Bring Me With Her

How Can You Not See?

It was another two days before they came face-to-face with it. They were eyeing it from the top of a steep, rocky cliff, where they could see the whole of it clearly. It stood tall, and appeared darker than the night. Thorin also couldn't help but notice that there was also...no possible way they could sneak their way past it.

"The Black Gate of Mordor!" Gollum announced.

They made it. They made it to Mordor. Now the question remained: how were they supposed to make it inside? How were they supposed to navigate their way to Mount Doom without being seen by the thousands of Orcs that Thorin knew were lurking inside? "Mahal, save us." he whispered under his breath.

"Mistress says show her the way into Mordor, so good Smeagol does. Mistress says so." Gollum continued.

Thorin looked to see Talia staring at the gate with wide eyes, as if she couldn't believe they were actually there. "Yeah...I did." she said absently, distracted by the view of this wretched place.

The Dwarf king looked ahead and saw multiple Orcs standing guard at the gate. He shook his head. "That's it, then. Talia, we cannot get past them unseen." he insisted. Talia met his eyes and bit her lip.

"So now what? I don't think I can afford to be picky here." she confessed, and they both looked down at the sound of marching. Soldiers were marching right below them, chanting something in Black Speech. The Dwarf king heard Gollum scream at the sound, and he looked back to see him cowering at the sight. He must have heard the chant frequently during his time at Mordor, during his time of torture.

"The gate is opening." Thorin said, his head turning back to the gate at the sound of its giant doors opening its way for the soldiers to enter. Thorin made his way to climb onto a boulder, and looked down to see if there was any way he and Talia could make it. This was their chance, maybe their only chance to make it inside. "I think I see a way down from here." Thorin was about to get up when he heard a crack coming from beneath him. He let out a cry as the boulder he was lying on gave in, sending him flying down the cliff.

"Thorin no!" he could hear Talia scream. He couldn't stop himself. He continued to descend down the cliff, his feet digging deep into the gravel surface as he slid. Thorin stopped when his body was surrounded by the rock so much so that he couldn't get out. It was as if he had sunken half way through quick sand. And now he was trapped.

Adrenaline was racing through his system as he was trying to push himself out, along with keeping his eyes on the soldiers, who would clearly be able to see him if only they looked in his direction. It felt like minutes had passed when he heard footsteps behind him. He tried to dig for his sword, but he was still buried too deep. He was defenseless.

"Thorin!" The Dwarf king whipped his head around and gave a sigh of relief when he saw it was Talia coming. But his relief was short-lived when he realized that she was just as close to exposing herself to the soldiers as he was. As soon as Talia grabbed on to Thorin's arms, he yanked himself out of her grip.

"Get out! They'll see you!" Thorin hissed.

"And what am I supposed to do when they see you?" Talia retorted.

"That doesn't matter!" Thorin argued.

"Excuse me? You-"

"Don't argue with me, Talia. They're coming."

Talia whipped her head to see two soldiers coming in their direction. Thorin attempted to reach out for her leg and shove her away. It was useless. Talia got onto her knees and wrapped an arm around his chest. Thorin was about to shout at her to run away when she covered both of them with her green cloak, the cloak she received from the Elves of Lothlorien.