A Half Elf's Love

A Beating Drum

As we walked and limped, Gandalf spoke softly, his voice just barely above a whisper.

"Quietly now. It's a four-day journey to the other side. Let us hope that our presence may go unnoticed." As we walked, Gandalf eventually began to run his hands along silver veins in the abandoned mine. "The wealth of Moria was not in gold...or jewels...but Mithril." I stared at the silver veins in wonder. They were beautiful and mimicked the stars. Gandalf continued his ramblings softly. "Bilbo had a shirt of Mithril rings that Thorin gave him."

"Oh, that was a kingly gift." Gimli sounded almost surprised. Gandalf responded, still staring at the empty mind.

"Yes! I never told him, but its worth was greater than the value of the Shire." We eventually took a rest, and Aragorn sat me beside Elladan. I looked over at the elf beside me. He looked exhausted. He laid his head on my shoulder, looking up at me rather pitifully.

"Hello." I smiled at his voice, gently pulling a strand of hair away from his face.

"Is your head alright? I saw blood." Elladan nodded, his eyes locked on mine. I pulled another strand of hair on his face, playing with it in my fingers. It was a comfort mechanism.

"Are you...alright?" I gave some sort of head movement, sliding down the rock wall a little. I felt tired as I heard Elladan's steady breathing. I closed my eyes, falling asleep. I was woken up by Aragorn, who was clearly wanting to say something about Elladan and I, but I gave him a glare, wishing him him to keep his mouth shut. He did, and we all began walking, with Elladan being able to walk on his own. The same pattern repeated until the fourth day. We reached a fork in the road. Gandalf spoke in a mutter as he stared at the two paths.

"I have no memory of this place." We took a break, and I heard a loud ringing. I gripped Elladan's shoulder gently as a white light blinded me. There was a gut wrenching cry for someone's name. This vision felt so blurry, but I saw a small figure with dark brown hair like Frodo's running to a drop off. He grabbed onto something or someone, trying to pull it up. He fell over the edge. Everyone screamed. I woke up in my brother's arms. I blinked a little. the shock to my body becoming noticeable.

"Delia? Are you alright?" I nodded. "What did you see?"

"I cannot say. It was blurry." Gandalf suddenly spoke, breaking the moment.

"Oh! It's that way." Merry let out a cheer that Gandalf had remembered, which the old wizard denied. "No, but the air doesn't smell so foul down here. If in doubt, Meriadoc, always follow your nose." We walked down the path Gandalf had selected. He lit the room we were in a little more. I let out a gasp at the sight. Massive stone columns engraved with dwarven symbols, and in its better days, it must have been lit with a million lanterns. "Behold: the great realm and Dwarf city of Dwarrowdelf." Sam said what all of us were thinking, his voice filled with wonder.

"Now there's an eye opener and make no mistake." I chuckled at the hobbit's wonder, but a shout broke out stunned silence. It was Gimli. He took off sprinting to a chamber, and we all heard wails of grief. Elladan and I ran in after him, followed by everyone else. Gimli was kneeling at the base of a tomb, tears falling down his face. Gandalf wiped the dust from the runes, translating them for us.

"'Here lies Balin, son of Fundin, Lord of Moria.' He is dead then. It's as I feared." Gimli muttered prays to his dead family, and Gandalf took a rotting book from the hands of a skeleton. He began to read from it. "'They have taken the bridge...and the second hall. We have barred the gates...but cannot hold them for long. The ground shakes. Drums...drums...in the deep. We cannot get out. A shadow moves in the dark. We cannot get out...they are coming!'" The silence was broken by a loud crash. Something had fallen down the well, and Pippin looked very guilty. I watched in horror as a skeleton fell into the well, dragging a bucket with it. The clang was so incredibly loud. Gandalf slammed the book after a moment of silence. "Fool of a Took! Throw yourself in next time and rid us of your stupidity!"

"Gandalf." He whirled around at me, and I raised my hands in surrender. I just thought he was being a little harsh to essentially a teenager. A drum sounded. I froze, my legs beginning to shake. Sam called out to Frodo, who pulled his blade out of its place. It was tinged blue. Orcs. Boromir ran to the doors, arrows flying near his face. Aragorn ran to Boromir, shouting back to the hobbits.

"Get back! You stay close to Gandalf!" A loud bellow echoed through the halls. Boromir turned his head back, shouting sarcastically.

"They have a cave troll!" I helped Legolas toss weapons and wooden boards towards the doors to help Boromir and Aragorn barricade them. Elladan and Gimli were ready to fight, the hobbits were huddled in a corner, and Gandalf was holding his sword and staff. Gimli shouted across the noise, and he was rather confident.

"Argh! Let them come! There is one dwarf yet in Moria who still draws breath!" Everyone pulled away from the doors as orcs crashed against the doors. Legolas and Aragorn drew arrows, firing them as soon as a space opened up. The creatures broke through the wall, charging in and dragging a massive cave troll behind them. I had no idea what I was doing. I just kept hacking at the creatures, trying to murder as many as I could while trying to not accidentally decapitate a hobbit or Gimli. I suddenly saw Boromir go flying. He crashed into the wall, rubbing his head. The troll was on the loose. Then Gimli went flying from his cousin's tomb. Suddenly my body was in the air. I crashed into a wall, the breath being knocked out of me. I took a moment to catch my breath, blinking away the pain. Pushing myself up, I saw that I was on an elevated platform. I stared down, still trying to breathe a little better. I watched as Frodo was stabbed. I let out a scream, falling from the platform. I scrambled across the ground, trying to reach the poor hobbit. I heard Merry and Pippin shouting. I looked up to see them throwing rocks. They somehow ended up on the troll's head, stabbing its brains. Legolas fired a shot into the trolls mouth, and I watched as it collapsed, letting out a pitiful moan as it fell. Something stabbed me in my leg, distracting my attention from the wounded Frodo. I watched Elladan stab an orc that was at my leg. He inspected the blade, presumably for poison. He looked relived, which told me there was none. He quickly tied a scrap of my pants around the wound. It hurt as he tied it tighter.

"Elladan, you have to stop someone from going over a cliff. I think it's Frodo. You have to stop him from falling." He looked confused but nodded. He picked me up from the ground, and both our attention's were drawn to Gandalf.

"To the Bridge of Khazad-dûm!"