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Chapter 9: A Journey in the Dark

Disclaimer: I’m gonna say this slow so you get it. I. Don’t. Own. Anything!

The Fellowship made their way to the entrance of Moria, still keeping an eye out for anymore of Ethan’s spies through the mist. They came to a passage at the base of the mountain, near the ruins of an ancient aqueduct that indicated they were getting close.

“Buffy, come help me with something?” Giles called back to Buffy. She hurried to the front of the group, Giles waiting for her. “How’s your shoulder feeling?”

“Still hurts, but it’s better than it was.” Buffy said, unconsciously rubbing her wound.

“And what about the Ring?” Giles continued in a whisper. After a moment of silence, Buffy responded.

“It feels heavier than it did when we left.” She said quietly.

“I was afraid of that, its power is growing. I’ve felt it as well. You must be careful, Buffy.” Giles said, as the rest of the Fellowship went on. “Evil will be drawn to you, and I fear it may come from within the Fellowship.” He said, looking suspiciously at Lindsey.

“Then who am I supposed to trust?”

“Yourself, Buffy, you must trust in yourself.” Giles said, taking a deep breath. “Buffy, there are many powers in the world, some are good, some are evil. Some are stronger than myself, and some I have yet to face.”

“What are you saying, Giles?” Buffy asked, but Xander’s excited ranting cut off the answer.

“The walls of Moria, dude this is so cool!” Xander said, looking in awe. They stood before a huge cliff side by a lake, shrouded in fog.

“It’s a cliff side, how amazing.” Spike said unimpressed, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

“Dwarf doors are invisible when they aren’t open.” Xander explained, as they walked along looking for the entrance.

“Quite right, if the secret way to open them is forgotten, their own makers can’t find them let alone open them.” Giles supplied.

“The staggering intellect of the Dwarves, the glorified bricklayers.” Spike muttered, Xander glaring at him. The Fellowship walked along the lake, looking at the rock face for some kind of doorway.

“Here, I think I’ve found it!” Giles said, examining a section of rock with markings in a strange substance. “Ithildin, ingenious, it can’t be seen unless it reflects the starlight or moonlight.” As if on cue, the moon shown down and revealed the door. The door was outlined by a Dwarf design of ithildin; two columns and an archway, with trees’ branches entwined around them, a crown with 7 stars floating above a hammer and anvil.

“The inscription says: ‘The Doors of Jonathan, Lord of Moria. Speak friend and enter’, fascinating.” Giles said, studying the entrance.

“I wonder what that means.” Dawn thought out loud.

“Oh it’s really quite simple. If you are a friend of the Dwarves, you speak the password and the doors will open. Well, best begin.” Giles said raising his staff. “Ihr Goetter, ruft Euch an! Verbergt Euch nicht hinter falschen Gesichtern!” Nothing happened

“Krv drpglr pwlz chkwrt strplmt dwghzn prqlrzn lffrmt plzt.” Still, nothing happened.

“Is Mr. Giles saying a spell or having a stroke?” Andrew asked, earning a glare from Giles. Giles pushed against the doors, not budging an inch. “What are you going to do now?”

“Hit your head against these doors, Andrew!” Giles said, exasperated. “And if your hard head doesn’t shatter them, and I am allowed a moment’s peace from your foolish commentary, I will try to find the right words.” For the next few hours, the Fellowship sat by the doors while Giles continued to go through his knowledge of ancient words and spells.

“This is getting ridiculous, if Rupes doesn’t know how to open the doors, then there isn’t a way to open them.” Spike said under his breath.

“What are you doing?!” Andrew asked shrilly, catching the rest of the group’s attention. They turned to see Andrew running over to Angel and Bill the pony.

“I’m letting Bill go.” Angel said slowly.

“What?! Why?!” Andrew asked, wrapping his arms protectively around Bill’s neck.

“We can’t take a pony through a mine.” Angel said, with the tone of voice used when trying to calm down a child.

“But Bill’s smart, and brave.” Andrew said, tears welling in his eyes.

“I know, but the mines are still no place for a pony, even one as ‘brave’ as Bill.” Angel said, trying to keep Andrew from making a scene.

“Bye Bill, I’ll always remember you.” Andrew whispered, hugging the pony with tears streaming down his face.

“Don’t worry Andrew, Bill knows the way home.” Angel said, rolling his eyes.

“That boy needs serious help.” Willow whispered to Xander.

“Or a life.” Xander supplied. Dawn, feeling bored, threw a rock into the lake. Andrew was about to throw one as well, but Angel grabbed his hand.

“Don’t do that.” Angel said, looking suspiciously at the water.

“Oh, this is hopeless!” Giles said exasperated, sitting down. Buffy looked at the inscription on the doors, the wheels in her head beginning to turn. Angel watched as a ripple appeared in the lake, and then another one at the other end of the lake. Andrew looked at the lake, suddenly scared, something was under the water.

“Wait, I get it!” Buffy said, realizing the trick of the inscription. “It says ‘speak friend and enter’, so what’s the Elvish word for friend?”

“Of coarse!” Giles said, slapping his head, “Mellon!” The ancient doors creaked and slowly opened, Giles placed a magic crystal in his staff to light the way as they entered.

“Oh man this is great! I’ve always wanted to come back here; the roaring fires, the great architecture, the malt beer. It’s a Dwarf’s paradise, my cousin Jesse’s home and they say it’s just a mine.” Xander said, bragging about his heritage.

“You’re right, ‘mine’ doesn’t seem accurate,” Lindsey said, looking around the dimly lit cave. “Slaughterhouse seems more accurate.” They looked around and saw bodies strewn around the cave, and by the looks of them they’d been there for a while. The bodies of dozens of Dwarves and Orcs littered the chamber, the result of a hard fought battle or a horrible massacre.

“Oh God no!” Xander cried, desperation and panic in his voice.

“These arrows,” Willow said, inspecting an arrow from a body. “Goblins did this!” Willow threw the arrow away, and drew one of her own with her bow. Angel and Lindsey drew their swords as the group began to back out of the chamber.

“We head for the Gap of Rohan, this was a mistake.” Lindsey said, as they exited the cave. As they backed out, Buffy suddenly fell over like something grabbed her from behind.. The Fellowship looked and saw a long tentacle wrapped around her ankle pulling her towards the lake.

“Oh great!” Buffy said, pulling out Sting. She swung the Elven scythe and sliced the tentacle in half. It slipped back under the water, only to be replaced by 10 more. “Oh crap!” The tentacles whipped through the air and sent the other Hobbits flying, before three of them wrapped around Buffy’s legs and waist and hauled her up in the air. She thrashed and tried to swing Sting, but the tentacles knocked the scythe from her hands. As the tentacles moved Buffy away from the shore, a huge shape appeared in the water; a giant octopus like creature whose tentacles were now reaching into her clothes, most likely searching for the Ring.

“Hey, let go!” Buffy yelled at the monster, grabbing and pulling at the tentacles. The thing retaliated by opening its huge, tooth filled mouth and began lowering her towards it. “A LITTLE HELP WOULD BE NICE!!!”

Spike, Angel and Lindsey ran into the water and began hacking at the thing’s tentacles; Willow enchanted an arrow with an blinding spell and fired it between the monster’s eyes, the magic blocking the creatures vision. The thing lashed out blindly as they others continued to chop off it’s arms, until Spike used Sting to slice the tentacles that held Buffy, letting her fall into Angel’s arms.

“Everyone in the mines, now!” Giles shouted. The Fellowship ran through the entrance, closely followed by the monster as it groped its way towards them. The monster was to large for the doorway, as it slammed into the wall it caused a cave in that buried the creature and the only way out. The crystal in Giles’ staff gave off light again, showing a huge pile of rocks where the entrance used to be, an unmoving tentacle of the creature sticking out from the rubble.

“I’m afraid we have no choice, we must face the long dark path of Moria. All of you have to be on your guard, there are much worse things than Orcs in the deep places in the world.” Giles said, his low voice loud against the deafening silence. “Everyone be quiet, it will four days to reach the other side, and it would be best if we try to remain inconspicuous.”

The Fellowship continued through the caverns of Moria, past boulders and huge caves and a few underground lakes. After a day or so of walking, Giles stopped the group to examine something. Giles pointed out a vein of silver substance in the rock wall.

“The mines here were not filled with gold or jewels, but something much more important; Mithril silver.” Giles said, increasing the light on his staff. The Fellowship looked to the side and saw they were standing on a ledge overlooking a vast, seemingly bottomless, mine shaft. Many more levels for the miners to work lined with ladders and scaffolding stretched down into the dark abyss, chains for hauling up loads still hung over the vast chasm.

“Our heroes look in awe at the vast, ancient mines of a Dwarf kingdom. Once a place of endless excavation of precious metals…” Andrew prattled, till Spike grabbed him by the shirt coller.

“If you don’t shut up, I’m throwin’ you over the edge.” Spike said, smirking at the boy’s horrified reaction.

“Joyce had two shirts of Mithril mail that Snyder gave her.” Giles said, leading them on.

“Really?!” Xander asked, awestruck. “Wow, that’s a gift most kings would kill for!”

“I know,” Giles said. “I never told her this, but both shirts were worth ten times value the Shire and everything in it.” Buffy and Dawn stared at each other in shock, realizing they were wearing those shirts. They continued through the dark passages until they came to a fork in the tunnel, there were three archways and Giles said something that meant they were stopped for a while.

“I don’t remember this place.” Giles said, sitting by the archways. The rest of the group decided to take a rest till Giles could remember.

“Are we lost?” Andrew asked.

“No.” Dawn said.

“I think we are.”

“Shhh! Andrew, Giles is trying to think, be quiet!”

“Dawn?”

“What?”

“I’m hungry.”

“Shut up!”

“OK.”

Buffy sat against a rock, but she jumped to her feet as she saw something in the cavern below moving. She went up to where Giles was sitting and talked.

“There’s something down there!” Buffy said urgently.

“It’s Gollum.” Giles said, nonchalantly.

“Gollum?” Buffy asked, surprised.

“He’s been following us for three days.”

“He escaped Sauron’s dungeons!” Buffy said.

“Did he, or was he set loose?” Giles thought out loud. “And now the Ring has led him hear. He will never be rid of his need for it.” Buffy looked back down into the caverns, thinking about the story her mother had told her. About how Gollum had tried to kill and eat her, anger grew in her mind thinking about it.

“He hates and loves the Ring, as he hates and loves himself. Smeagol’s life is a sad story.” Giles continued, off Buffy’s surprised look. “Yes, his name was Smeagol before the Ring twisted him and drove him insane.”

“Pity my mom didn’t kill him when she had the chance!” Buffy said bitterly.

“Pity?” Giles said, looking surprised at such a hateful comment from her. “It was pity that kept your mother from killing him. Many who live deserve to die and many who die deserve to live, could you give either to them?” Buffy hug her head. “Don’t be so eager to judge who lives and dies, even someone like me can’t predict how everything can end. Something tells me that Gollum has a part to play in all this. Before this is over, your mother’s pity may decide the fate of the world.”

“I wish my mom never found the Ring.” Buffy said sadly. “I wish this whole thing never happened.” Giles looked at the despair in her face and put an arm around her shoulder.

“So do I, anyone who lived to see such times would wish the same but that’s not their decision. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us. There are other forces at work in this world besides evil. Your mother was meant to find the Ring, which means you were also meant to have it. Someone must have great faith in you to trust you with this destiny, just as I do.” Buffy smiled through the tears, hugging Giles. “Oh, it’s that way!” Giles said suddenly pointing to one of the archways.

“He remembers!” Dawn said getting up.

“Well no actually, but the air doesn’t smell so bad down this passage. When in doubt, follow your nose.” Giles said as the Fellowship descended down the stairway. “I think we can risk a little more light. Behold, the great Dwarf city, Dwarrowdelf.” The light of Giles staff shined through the vast hall; giant pillars, a hundred feet tall, stretched as far as the eye can see, a vast forest of great stone structures extended forever in every direction.

“OK, now this is impressive.” Spike said, awestruck. The Fellowship walked through the huge halls, staring in reverence at the ancient city of the Dwarves. As they trekked through the huge chamber, Xander suddenly bolted away from the group towards a doorway. The rest of them turned and saw the doorway, bodies and arrows littering the area around the door. They followed Xander through the door, finding a large room with bodies and weapons everywhere and a large stone tomb.

“No! Oh God, no!” Xander said, kneeling beginning to cry. Willow put a comforting hand on his shoulder as he cried, the rest of them seeing the inscription on the crypt was the reason for his sadness.

“Here lies Jesse, Lord of Moria.” Giles read. “He’s dead, I was afraid of this.” Giles stooped and picked up an old book from the grasp of one of the bodies, it seemed to be a record of the Dwarves who lived there.

“I think we should get going.” Angel said, looking at the carnage left from the long over battle.

“They have taken the bridge and the second hall.” Giles read aloud from the book, getting the attention of the Fellowship. “We’ve barred the gates but cannot hold them for long.” The group began glancing around; half expecting the ones who did this to jump out any second. “The ground shakes. Drums, drums in the deep. We cannot get out. A shadow moves in the dark.” Giles continued, as Andrew began looking at the bodies. “We cannot get out. They are coming!”

By now Andrew’s curiosity got the better of him and he touched the arrow sticking from the chest of a body near an old well; as he touched it, the body fell into the well dragging a large metal bucket with it, causing long loud clanging and crashing sounds that seemed to reach every part of the underground city. The Fellowship glared at the idiotic Hobbit, as he smiles guiltily.

“You idiot! Next time throw yourself in and rid us of your stupidity!” Giles said harshly, turning to leave.

Boom

They all heard it, slowly turning towards the sound coming from the well.

Boom

They looked around, panicking.

Boom-boom Boom-boom-boom

It was getting louder and faster with each minute.

Boom-boom-boom-boom-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM

“I think Andrew just woke the bloody neighbors.” Spike said, seeing the blade on Buffy’s scythe glow.

“Orcs!” Angel said, Lindsey ran to the doors and peered out into the halls, narrowly missing two arrows.

“They have a cave troll, just great!” Lindsey said as they began bracing the door. A few axes and a chain were put through the door handles but they still heard the Orcs outside banging against them. The Fellowship drew their weapons, preparing for the fight. Buffy raised her scythe, Willow pulled out her bow, Xander raised his axes, Angel, Giles and Lindsey drew swords, and Spike, Dawn and Andrew drew their short swords, all ready to kick evil ass.

“Come on boys,” Xander snarled. “There’s still one Dwarf in Moria who you haven’t fought!”

The screeches and snarls from the Orcs were heard, as they began chopping through the door. Willow fired her arrows through the holes in the doors, but they kept attacking the door. They stood, their weapons drawn until finally the door burst open.





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