The Beginning of Darkness [LotR] [COMPLETED]

Don't Disturb the Water

Marillel was sat crossed legged with her eyes closed on the rocky shore of the lake that was beside the entrance to the mine. Beside the quite grumblings of Gandalf trying to find the password to open the door and the gentle lapping of the water on the shore it was quite peaceful. Gimli had fallen asleep and was snoring gently. Legolas and Boromir had wondered off somewhere and Aragorn was quietly smoking his pipe on a rock.

Suddenly there was a loud ‘plop’ that pierced the silence. Marillel frowned but kept her eyes shut not wanting to lose her concentration. Another plop broke the silence and Marillel was forced to open her eyes curiosity getting the best of her.

Merry and Pippin were throwing rocks into the lake seeing who could throw theirs the furthest.

“Ha! Mine went further that time!” Pippin declared

“No way!” Merry threw another rock, “That one beat yours!”

“Don’t disturb the water” Marillel scolded, “You don’t know what could be living in there”

“Sorry” they mumbled

“Oh it’s useless!” Gandalf declared throwing his staff down and sat next to Frodo taking his hat off

Legolas and Boromir returned to the group but Marillel hardly noticed she was watching the lake as a ripple of water appeared in the centre of the lake and continued on to the shore creating a mini wave.

“It’s a riddle” Frodo realised, “Speak ‘friend’ and enter. Marillel what’s the Elvish word for friend?”

“Mellon” she said without breaking her gaze from the lake as more ripples appeared.

There was a low moaning as the doors to Moria swung open. Finally Marillel was able to tear her gaze away from the lake, she picked up her pack, bow and quiver and entered into the darkness. Gandalf placed a crystal onto the tip of his staff and softly blew on it creating a circle of light around them.

“This my friends is the home of my cousin Balin. And they call it a mine. A mine!” Gimli laughed

As they walked deeper into the mine Marillel saw skeletons scattered haphazardly around  the place, many with arrows and swords sticking out of them, terror was etched into the skulls of the dwarves and some still clung to axes,

“This is no mine, it’s a tomb!” Boromir said horror clear in his voice

Legolas pulled one of the arrows out of a nearby dwarf, “Goblins!” he spat throwing the arrow away

Everyone drew their swords and equipped arrows to their bows, alert to any movement in the shadows,

“We make for the Gap of Rohan, we should never have some here” Boromir said slowly backing towards the entrance, “We must get out of here!”

Everyone backed away more quickly still keeping a wary eye on the shadows. Marillel thought she could hear the rippling of the lake more clearly, she spun around just as Frodo was taken from behind by a giant tentacle that had emerged from the lake,

“Aarrgghghgh!” Frodo shrieked

“Frodo!” Marillel, Sam, Merry and Pippin all cried out at once

“Help!” he cried as he was being dragged back to the water. Sam rushed forward, sword out and started hacking at the tentacle holding Frodo while the others held onto Frodo trying to stop him from being dragged into the water.

As suddenly as the tentacle appeared it disappeared again, everyone collapsed on the shore breathless. They all shot back up again as more tentacles appeared out of the water, some tentacles whacked the other Hobbits away from Frodo as they tried to protect him. Marillel managed to hit some of the tentacles with her arrows but one still managed to get Frodo and hoist him high into the night air. Aragorn and Boromir began attacking the creature with their swords but all that managed to do was get Frodo flung around more wildly in the air.

The monster’s head emerged from the centre of the lake and started lowering Frodo towards its mouth ready to devour him. Aragorn sliced through the tentacle that was holding Frodo, Marillel just managed to catch him falling down with the sudden extra weight,

“Into the mines!” Gandalf cried from the entrance

Boromir relieved Frodo from Marillel and ran into the mine, Aragorn dragged Marillel to her feet and pushed her ahead of him through the doors. Legolas took one last shot at the monster getting him in the eye before running into the mine also.

The creature once again reached forward with its tentacles, but this time pulled the massive doors down creating an avalanche of rock and dirt. That was the last thing the Fellowship saw before they were swallowed up in darkness and all was silent except for their ragged breaths.