The Fellowship REBORN

- CHAPTER 4 - The Mines of Moria

We walked along the rocky path to the left of a lake. I watched as the water moved calmly beside me.
"The walls of Moria" Gimli exclaimed happily.
The footing was treacherous on the narrow strip of greasy stones but I quickly hopped from one to another.
I had always been quite agile, able to move easily from place to place and climb up impossible things.
When I was a child I always use to hide from my father. I could always hide in the tiniest of spaces, my flexibility never really left me, it had its uses.

We arrive to a doorway where Gandalf studies it harshly with his eyes.
"Let's see, ithildin - it mirrors only starlight and moonlight"
As he says this the door begins to illuminate.
"It reads, the doors of Dorian-Lord of Moria. Speak friend and enter". Gandalf says.

"What do you suppose that means?" Asks pippin curiously.

" oh, it's quite simply". Gandalf replies confidently. "If you are a friend you speak the password and the doors will open".
He turns to the door, holding his staff against it whilst speaking in Elvish, hoping to open the doors but they do not move.
He tries again, speaking a different sting of words but yet again, the doors do not open.
" oh it is useless" sighs Gandalf as he sits down on a rock.
I watch him as he pity's himself. Feeling sorry for him, I step up the door and begin to study it.

" it's a riddle" I exclaim... "speak friend"...."that only means one thing".
I stand back to look at the door in full frame ... "Mellon" I announce as the doors begin to open.

"What did she say" Gimli whispers to Legolas

"She said the elvish word for friend"  Legolas replies as he smirks.

" oh right, yeah, I knew that." Gimli says even though he clearly did not know what I had meant.

We follow Gandalf into the mines where he projects the light from his staff into the room.
I look around me to see dwarf corpses littered all across the floor.
I move next to Gandalf who stands observing the tomb. " I fear it is not safe here" I say to him as I slowly pull an arrow out from my quiver, loading it to my bow.

"So, master elf, you will enjoy the fabled hospitality of the dwarves; roaring fires, malt beer and red meat off the bone. This, my friend is the home of my cousin Balin and they call this a mine!" Gimli says as he enters behind us with the others.
They too all stop in their tracks to look around them.

" this is no mine, it's a tomb" Boromir exclaims.

Whails are to be heard from Gimli as his friends lay dead around him. Aragon places a hand on his shoulder to console him.
I look to Legolas who picks up an arrow from the body of a fallen dwarf, he examines it for a moment before casting it away in disgust.
"Goblins" he yells gritting his teeth.

The sound of swords behind to echo through the mines as Aragon and Boromir withdraws theirs from their hold.
Something begins to stir within the water.

" We should never of come here, we make for the gap of Rohan" Boromir says as we all begin to back towards the way we had came.
But suddenly Frodo is grabbed from behind from what looks like to be a tentacle into the air.
Sam, Merry and Pippin exclaim Frodo's name in unison as they watch him being thrown around.
I release my arrow from my bow, shooting the tentacle that holds Frodo. The tentacle drops him which causes it to feign back into the water.
Sam grabs Frodo and pulls him out from the shallow depths of the water.
But suddenly many tentacles come boiling out of the water, it slaps Sam aside and grabs Frodo once more around the leg. Frodo lets out a scream.
Legolas and I shoot our arrows to the tentacle that grasps Frodo's leg as Boromir and Aragon rush into the water with their swords raised.
They slash the creature many times until it releases Frodo from its clutches to fall into Boromir's arms. They retreat back to the shore.