All Shall Fade

Chapter 15

Endless Nightmare

“Oh my God!” I whispered, my hands flying to my mouth, as if the shield my face as I caught sight of the skeletons. Hundreds of them, littering the floor. Dehydrated skin and rotting, putrid flesh still clinging to the brittle bones that were still clothed in rags and contorted in the grotesque positions the poor souls had died in – with all manner of weapons still protruding from them. “I think I’m going to be sick.” I choked as I felt my knees buckle and the unmistakable stench of death hit my nostrils.

“No!” Gimli wailed as I felt bile rise in my throat. I wanted to close my eyes and make it all go away, but I couldn’t. I couldn’t take my eyes off the hundreds of eyeless sockets that stared back at me.

“Boromir…” I whimpered, reaching out and gripping his upper arm, and he quickly pulled me against him, pressing my face into his shoulder so I wouldn’t have to look. I couldn’t get the images out of my mind though as I felt tears sting at my eyes. I didn’t know why I was crying. I hadn’t known those people, and therefore I shouldn’t be mourning their loss… It was the shock probably. All in all, what I’d just seen was probably the most appalling thing I’d ever seen in my life – with the sole exception of being pushed into the boy’s changing room at school once when I’d backed out on a dare – but this was probably worse.

Somewhere in the background, I heard Legolas snarl something that sounded like ‘Goblins’. I’d never heard Legolas snarl or make any violent sound before, and it only seemed to add to the unpleasantness of the situation.

“We make for the Gap of Rohan! We should never have come here!” Boromir cried, still holding me tightly, “Now, get out! Get out!” I was only too happy to oblige as he pulled me towards the door. Suddenly I heard a splashing noise and Sam, Merry and Pippin and unanimously shouted ‘Frodo!’ which caused me to pull away from Boromir as I heard Frodo’s yells. I almost screamed in alarm as I saw Frodo being dragged out the door and towards the lake by a giant tentacle.

“Get off him!” Sam yelled as he chopped it off and I stared dumbly. What the hell was going on? Suddenly, a dozen more tentacles burst from the lake outside and made for Frodo, violently pushing the other Hobbits out of the way as one wrapped around his leg and lifted him off the ground.

“Strider!” He yelled, in his panic reverting back to the name he originally knew Aragorn by.

“No!” I cried, snapping out of my stupefied trance and drawing one of the two short blades that hung from my waist. I hadn’t used them since Rivendell, and now seemed like a good time to use them again. I dashed out the door after Aragorn, who was already waist-deep in the lake and making for the tentacle that held Frodo. I went for the nearest wildly thrashing limb – I didn’t really want to think about what it could belong to – and succeeded in lodging my blade about halfway into the putrid flesh of the watery creature, before I hit what appeared to be the cartilage that supported the tentacle. I ducked as it whipped around me in anger as I removed my blade and heard Gandalf shouting behind me.

“Into the mines!” He yelled as I turned to run back, spotting Boromir pulling Frodo out of the water and Legolas fitting an arrow into his bow as Aragorn followed Boromir.

And suddenly I was seeing the whole scene from above.

“What the-?!” I cried as I was turned upside down as something caught a vice-like grip on my ankle. I screamed as the tentacle thrashed me around violently, at a speed that would easily give me whiplash and was provoking my breakfast to make a speedy exit. I tried to hack myself free with my sword but that only made the thrashing worse. “Legolas! Help!” I screamed as the movement suddenly stopped and I found myself hurtling towards the dark water below. I just about had time to draw a quick breath before I was plunged under the surface. I struggled futilely as its grip on my ankle tightened. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I was annoyed that for the second time today I was on the verge of suffocating, but I pushed that thought away as I tried to pull away, but it just pushed me deeper. It was obviously trying to drown me, so I went limp. I might as well try to bluff my way out of this one.

It seemed to work, as the dumb beast whipped me out of the water as I hung in its grasp like a boneless fish.

“Alice!” Boromir yelled, clearly not realising that I was only playing dead as the creature loosened its hold a little, and I glanced down to find myself dangling over a massive, ugly head with gaping wide jaws. The stench of the creature’s breath was enough to make me almost pass out as I yelled in alarm. “I am not being eaten!” I shrieked, “Put me down you ugly bastard!” Evidently, the brute didn’t understand my insults as it lowered me towards my toothy doom.

Suddenly, an arrow was lodged in the head of the creature and my little upside-down-adventure was abruptly ended as it dropped me. I yelped and curled into a ball waiting to either make contact with its jaws or the water. Surprisingly, I made contact with neither, and I looked up in shock to find Aragorn tightly holding me in his arms as he ran towards the mines.

“Legolas! Into the cave!” Boromir shouted above the roars of the creature as Aragorn ran through the water and stumbled. He didn’t drop me, but we were both momentarily plunged into the cold water. I gasped in alarm and accidentally inhaled a lungful of water as he righted himself and continued running. I coughed as I tried to breathe normally but found myself choking on water as we passed through the door. “Run!” Boromir urged us as Legolas caught up and behind us I could hear the enraged creature pursuing us. I heard a cracking, crumbling sound as Aragorn ran on, and suddenly, the sound of falling rocks hit my ears, and then everything went black. There was utter silence until I began to choke again and Aragorn set me on my feet, thumping my back hard between my shoulder blades and causing me to cough up a lot of water.

“Thanks…” I wheezed as I caught my breath, “That makes number six.” I fell silent as a dim white light flickered nearby.

“We now have but one choice.” The wizard murmured as he lit the tip of his staff, “We must face the long dark of Moria. Be on your guard! There are older and fouler things than orcs in the deep places of the world.” He warned us as I grimaced. I’d never encountered an orc before, but they can’t be much worse than water monsters. Although I shuddered as my thoughts strayed back to the skeletons that surrounded us. Somehow, not being able to see them made it worse.

“What do you mean by six?” Aragorn whispered as we began walking and I sheathed my sword which I was still gripping tightly and began squeezing the water out of my soaked hair.

“Six times you’ve saved my life.” I mumbled shyly.

“I don’t recall six occasions.” I could almost hear him smiling as we walked on – hopefully it wasn’t because he had noticed that I was walking very close to him in order to avoid stepping on any bones.

“I’m being generous.” I smiled weakly, “I count you finding me in the forest as one, because if you hadn’t I’d either still be wandering or I’d be dead. Secondly, you fought off a Wraith that was about to stab me on Weathertop, third, you delayed the Black Breath. The fourth one was you pulling me out of the snow drift, then you saved me from the… Monster thing, and just now you stopped me from choking to death.” I listed quickly.

“Three times in one day? Are you trying to get yourself killed?” He joked, carefully guiding me around a long-dead dwarf that blocked our path.

“Um…” I was about to answer when Gandalf interrupted us.

“Quietly now. It is a four day journey to the other side. Let us hope our presence may go unnoticed.” He turned to cast a small glare back at us and I raised my eyebrows. It was like getting told off in school! I kept quiet though, knowing that there was something lurking down here, something that had killed off everything else that had lived here. I shuddered and cast a nervous glance around, feeling painfully aware of the fact that I was underground, surrounded by total blackness containing lord-knows-what. That was pretty much all of my phobias combined in a neat little package that was just the cherry on top of this endless nightmare.

As we walked on, I became increasingly uncomfortable, as the number of skeletons increased. It seemed that everywhere I looked there was a brittle corpse jammed into every nook and cranny. The air in here was stale, and the stench of death was something I found myself unable to ignore. It was however, blocked out at some points by the smell of smoke, as I was still walking beside Aragorn who had found a torch and had lit it. I was grateful for the light, but it only seemed to make me more painfully aware that I was trapped underground in what was essentially a massive tomb, and that wasn’t the most comforting of thoughts. As the path became narrower, Aragorn let me walk ahead of him as he brought up the rear and I cast him a thankful smile before hurrying ahead to join Legolas. I didn’t like the idea of walking through here with my back exposed, where anything could sneak up behind us… Ugh, this was like a horror movie where we were going to get picked off one by one… I shuddered to dispel the thought and walked a little closer to Legolas as we manoeuvred our way along the narrow walkways and staircases. The ground seemed to be dropping away on either side of us as we passed mining equipment and ladders haphazardly scattered everywhere. I deliberately went out of my way to go around the ladders instead of ducking under them like everyone else. I wasn’t particularly superstitious, but we definitely didn’t need any more bad luck. I was trying very hard not to look down at the endless drop to on side of us and instead focused on moving forward until Gandalf hesitated, brushing his hand across some silvery veins of metal that crossed the wall to one side of us.

“The wealth of Moria was not in gold or jewels, but Mithril.” The wizard murmured, moving his staff downwards to cast light into the massive chasm below us. I couldn’t help but peek over the edge and I blinked in alarm at the dizzying drop, and for a moment the idea crossed my mind that if I fell, I might find a Wormhole, pass through it and end up back in my own world - before I felt Legolas put his hand on my shoulder and I quickly realised how ridiculously stupid the idea was. I glanced up at him and smiled before stepping back from the edge and we continued walking. “Bilbo had a shirt of Mithril rings that Thorin gave him.” Gandalf continued as we carefully made our way along the path.

“Oh! That was a Kingly gift!” Gimli exclaimed. Clearly this Mithril stuff was valuable.

“Yes. I never told him, but its worth was greater than the value of the Shire.” Gandalf elaborated and my eyes widened. Yep, it was pretty valuable.

We continued walking for what seemed like hours, endlessly putting one foot in front of the other as we followed the dim light of Gandalf’s staff, until we reached a steep staircase and I groaned inwardly as I realised that I was probably going to have to crawl up it. We began climbing and I clung unsteadily to the steps that had been eroded over countless years, and every couple of metres, there was another skeleton. I tried to avoid them as much as possible, but every once in a while I would find myself accidentally face-to-face with one, and it would take all my willpower not to either scream or throw up as I edged around the pile of bones that had once been a living, breathing person, and continued on my way. I was surprised at my own determination to continue. I guessed I had changed since arriving here. A few months ago if I had found myself in this situation I probably would have taken one look at the place, had a panic attack and gone to hide in a corner and wait to be either rescued or die. Or I would have just frozen. That’s what total darkness did to me. I just freeze up and can’t move. I seemed to have been slowly getting over that fear since I first turned up here. Probably because I subconsciously realised that I can no longer rely on artificial light. My head jerked up as ahead of me, Pippin slipped on the steps.

“Pippin!” Merry hissed in concern as he righted his friend and we climbed on. It was another few minutes before we reached the top of the stairs and found ourselves faced with three doors. I scrambled to my feet and brushed myself down, shuddering as cobwebs clung to my hair, skin and clothing. I looked ahead to Gandalf as he glanced from door to door.

“I have no memory of this place.” He said softly as he looked back at us. I bit down on my lip anxiously as I cast a glance around, unwilling to linger here for longer than necessary. “Take some rest,” Gandalf commanded us, “It is late. I will try to remember the way.” I sighed and sat down on a small boulder at the top of the steps, whilst Aragorn and Boromir sat on the top step and Legolas stood by, seemingly unfazed by our surroundings. The Hobbits settled themselves behind me as I ruffled my hair which was still slightly damp. Aragorn left his torch on the ground which served as a small fire and I stretched my legs out in front of it, hoping to dry my sodden boots as I silently cursed the water-creature that had taken me for an involuntary swim.

“Are we lost?” Pippin whispered.

“No.” Merry replied.

“I think we’re lost.”

“Ssh, Gandalf’s thinking!” Merry quietly scolded his friend and for a moment it seemed like they were going to stay quiet, before Pippin piped up again.

“Merry?”

“What?”

“I’m hungry.”

I rolled my eyes and curled my knees up to my chest as I sat on my rock and closed my eyes, but for some reason I couldn’t shake the unpleasant feeling of something being close. Something unfriendly. I yawned but knew I wouldn’t be able sleep, I couldn’t relax in here. Nearby, I saw Fordo peer over the edge of the staircase at the long drop behind him, before he got to his feet and went over to speak with Gandalf.

I thought I might have heard something, like soft padding footsteps in the darkness behind me, but I shook it off as paranoia. Legolas walked over and sat down beside me and we talked in whispers to pass the time, and I brought up something that had been niggling at the back of my mind for a while now.

“Legolas? You’re immortal, right?” I asked in a low whisper.

“I am.” He nodded.

“Um, how old are you then? I-if you don’t mind me asking…” I stammered quietly and he smiled.

“I imagine a few thousand years,” He smiled, “I have not been keeping count.” My eyes widened as I tried to wrap my head around living for that long. “Does my age bother you?” He asked, suddenly appearing concerned as I shook my head.

“Not at all.” I smiled, “I had a feeling you were much older than you looked.” I looked him up and down. If I didn’t know better, I would have said that he was around my age, give or take a few years. It was his eyes that betrayed him. I could tell that they had seen a lot. Our conversation then dropped the more serious topics and somehow I ended up teaching him how to play Rock-Paper-Scissors in an attempt to make the slow minutes go faster. He was insanely good at it, and I was beginning to think he was using some elf-trick to cheat. I was about to confront him about it when Gandalf suddenly sat up.

“Ah!” He exclaimed, “It’s that way!” He nodded towards the far left tunnel and I stood.

“He’s remembered!” Merry cried happily as the others got to their feet.

“No, but the air smells less foul down here.” The wizard explained, standing and putting on his hat. “If in doubt, Meriadoc, always follow your nose.” He smiled, tapping the side of his own long nose as we followed him through the doorway and down a flight of stairs. As we reached to bottom, I looked around and saw only an intimidating darkness stretching before us. “Let me risk a little more light.” Gandalf murmured, holding his staff aloft. The increased light brought with it a sight just as intimidating as the darkness, as around me I heard a few gasps of amazement, and I realised that my own mouth was hanging open as I took in the massive hall before us. It seemed to go on forever, and I could see no end to the rows of clean-cut, stylised pillars that supported the cavernous ceiling. “Behold! The great realm of the dwarf city of Dwarrowdelf.” Gandalf announced, his voice echoing off the pillars and bouncing back at us.

“Well, there's an eye-opener and no mistake.” Sam murmured somewhere behind me as we slowly began walking down the hall. Even as we made our way along it I still couldn’t see an end to it, and upon closer inspection, it wasn’t as grand as it had originally appeared. The pillars were chipped and damaged, some had even fallen, skeletons were scattered everywhere and great gaping holes had appeared in the floor, walls and ceiling. I was pondering whether the damage was due to the decay of time, or caused by the Orcs that had invaded the mines, when I heard Gimli gasp loudly. I turned to see him running towards an illuminated room that stood between two pillars, with its door guarded by countless corpses.

“Gimli!” Gandalf cried as we rushed after the dwarf, realising that the light was sunlight as we entered the room and found Gimli kneeling before a large, perfectly square white stone, howling in despair as a beam of sunlight framed the scene. One by one, we filed into the room and surrounded the stone as Gandalf read aloud the ruins that inscribed the top.

“Here lies Balin, son of Fundin, Lord of Moria.” He sighed, glancing up and removing his hat, “He is dead then. It's as I feared.” The wizard handed his hat and staff to Pippin, before kneeling down before a skeleton that leant against the tomb, clutching at an impossibly thick book with its withered, dead hands. Gandalf gently prised the book away and carefully opened it as several pages fell out, accompanied by a shower of dust. He opened the book and blew away the coat of dust that covered it, as behind me, Legolas stepped closer to Aragorn.

“We must move on, we cannot linger.” The elf whispered as Gandalf began reading aloud from the ruins inked on the ancient pages.

“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.” He glanced up and I shivered, realising that we were hearing the last thoughts of whoever had been writing. “We cannot get out. A shadow moves in the dark. We cannot get out…” Gandalf glanced up again, “They are coming.” A silence fell across the group as we processed this, until we suddenly heard a creak, followed by a loud crash and I turned just in time to see Pippin sheepishly look away from a headless skeleton that sat on the edge of a well. The crashing continued and with a sliding clatter, the rest of the body fell backwards into the well, the bones and armour rattling painfully loudly as it hit off the stone walls, and was followed by a chain that was wrapped around the body. I made to lunge forward and catch the chain before it pulled the heavy wooden bucket that it was attached to down as well, but it was too late. It crashed downwards and I winced with every sound that echoed around the mine with enough noise to wake the dead – and anything else that was living here. And suddenly there was a silence in which no one breathed, and it seemed that somehow through some miracle, we hadn’t been heard.

“Fool of a Took!” Gandalf growled, snapping the book closed and causing Pippin to flinch. “Throw yourself in, next time, and rid us of your stupidity!” He angrily snatched his hat and staff off the Hobbit as I breathed again, nervously glancing around.

And then we heard it.

It began slowly at first, but then increased in speed and volume.

Doom, Doom, Doom…

“Drums…” I whispered, remembering the words of the book.

They were coming.