The Elven Gates [CONTINUING!!]

Chapter Fourteen

The walls of Moria came into view, and I saw three small figures standing beneath a lit doorway. As we got closer, I realized that it wasn't a doorway, but the Doors of Moria. So they hadn't opened them, then?

"Mellon," I mumbled as I stalked past the door, it creaked a little but didn't open all the way. Gandalf snickered and the Men poked fun.

"Edro annon!" Gandalf cried and the door opened.

"Open door?" I retorted, "Really?" Legolas strode through the door with a smirk evident on his face.

"Soon you will experience the fabled hospitality of the dwarves! My cousin Balin will bring you the warmest of welcomes!" Gimli wandered around an open chamber that the door led into.

"You will find no welcome here, dwarf!" a loud voice echoed menacingly, from no particular place. Before I knew what I was doing my blades were in my hands, and I looked over to see that Legolas had nocked an arrow and drawn back his bowstring.

"Who are you? And what do you want with our company?" I shouted in reply, holding back a wild snarl. A silhouette stepped out from a large archway toward us, and everyone whipped around to face their weapons towards it. The shape stepped into a beam of light, illuminating her face.

"You." She pointed directly at me and it all clicked. I recognized this elf, it was my 'mother' Ithilsarnie. The bandit who had caused the Fellowship to lose their trust in me, to second guess my judgement.

"Well I want nothing to do with you," I spat at her, "you have ruined too much, for me to wish for any more dealings together."

"I think I can change that," she replied slyly. The Fellowship still had their weapons drawn, but some shot me questioning looks. I snorted in response.

"I highly doubt that," I lowered my blades and leaned to the side in a casual stance, "I am loyal to my friends and even those who have not mirrored my respect." I pretended to inspect my fingernails, which were filthy and broken, and looked up at her innocently.

"Come with me," she said softly and took me by the arm. I sent worried looks to the Fellowship, but most were not returned.

"Then I am coming as well." Legolas lowered his bow just a little and took a step towards me and Ithilsarnie.

"I know of your plots, princeling, the darkness of Mirkwood forest has spread to your heart. Someday it will overtake you and you will only become a burden and danger to those who love you," she looked him dead in the eye, "Leave my daughter alone. It is within the Elvenking's best interests to not lose his only son and heir to the misery that comes with a broken heart."

"Mother!" I whipped around to face her and stared at her, "He has done nothing to hurt me!"

"Yet," is all she muttered before dragging me into another chamber, Legolas padding quietly behind.

---

"How do I know I can trust you?" I asked. We had been talking for quite a while but I was still skeptical of Ithilsarnie's motives. She kidnapped me, but now she wants to save me?

"I know everything about you, the Fellowship, this quest," she returned my searching stare, "If you do not side with me, who knows who I could join with. The Dark Lord Sauron is desperate for information, he only knows that the ring has left the Shire. I could do more damage than I am worth." I felt a strong urge to avert the subject from Sauron. I knew we were talking about serious stuff and all, but I was still confused about this whole 'mother' thing. Did I have a family here? Was I just born a long time ago and went into a coma? I had no idea.

"Uhm," I faced Ithilsarnie but with a more shy expression, "Did I have, like, a childhood? Did I just appear here? Who is my father?" I instantly regretted using the petty teenage 'like' in the middle of my sentence.

"Oh Rhoevien, I don't know how to explain." She pulled me close and into a tight, slightly uncomfortable because of all the metal armor she was wearing, embrace.

"Well?" I looked up at her expectantly.

"When I was younger, I sought adventure and thrill to no end. I made an impulsive decision to leave my home in Lothlorien and join a group of traveling bandits. The Beregnai, we were called, and each of us was out for a different reason. Some for money, some for travel. Eventually the leader began to dislike me, she thought I was going to drive the other members to recklessness, so she banished me from the bandit group. But some stood up for me, and those who came with me were called the Drakenslei. We wandered for a while, making our home mostly in Arnor, where it was highly unlikely to run into the Beregnai." She paused furrowing her brow and then relaxing.

"Go on," I said.

"Your father was a Mirkwood Guard. We knew it would never work, I had to stay nomadic and he was rooted deeply in the Kingdom, and, as you should know, it's incredibly hard to conceive and elf child. When you were just 13 (in actual years, so basically a newborn in elf years I guess) a wizard, Gandalf I think he was called, stole you away from us, only saying that there was some prophecy. I was never one for those anyway....."

"And?" Gandalf? He would never do such a thing.

"I never saw you again, well, until I found you in Ered Luin. But that was different." Footsteps came from down the carved stone hall.

"Are you two finished yet? Mithrandir wishes to move on." Aragorn's voice sounded from the end of the chamber.

"We must move on, we cannot linger," Legolas pleaded. I waved them both away and they exited the room, closing the large stone door loudly behind them.

"Anyway," I turned back to Ithilsarnie, "You must let us pass. We have to get through Moria in order to finish this quest. The Gap of Rohan takes us too close to enemy borders to pass through."

"Enemies, you say," a strange glint appeared in her eye, "Who are these 'enemies' along the Gap of Rohan?"

Should I tell her? I thought, Should I leave the information out? Would she be able to use it against us? I quickly decided and spoke up.

"Yes. The wizard, Saruman the White, has sided with Sauron against the free peoples of Middle Earth. We cannot have dealings with him any longer." I gulped silently afterwards, and winced slightly at my stupidity. She had claimed to know about this quest, but did she know we were against Sauron? Had she herself sided with the Dark Lord?

"Very well," her face softened and she led me out of the chamber to the rest of the Fellowship, who were looking at us expectantly, "You may pass through my domain, and the Halls of Moria."

I started to step away from her but she grabbed me by my arm.

"Beware the sleepless malice, there are ancient enemies that dwell where your path leads. They do not belong in Arda." She whispered this harshly into my hair and shoved me away. I nodded and regrouped with the Fellowship.

A/N:

Not very long, I know, and I keep putting off the Moria parts. But I'll start writing the rest of Moria and put up a new chapter. I felt like this needed to be updated ^-^