A Mistake

The Fellowship ran to a small doorway and Gandalf ushered them through. Far behind them came the source of the thumping that was reverberating off the walls and up Raina’s spine. But not far enough, in Raina’s opinion.

They sped down the winding stairs, emptiness on each side of them. Raina did not fear for herself, because she was now almost as graceful as an Elf. But she did watch out for the Hobbits, who seemed a bit uneasy of their bare feet at the moment.

Up ahead of her, Boromir stopped abruptly. She let out a noise of surprise as she ran into him. But before they could stumble, Legolas caught Raina around the waist and pulled back on Boromir’s leather vest. She let out a breath of relief, looking over the edge down into the empty mines. Falling would surely mean death.

“Gandalf!” Aragorn called as he stopped as well.

“Lead them on, Aragorn. The bridge is near!” Gandalf called. Raina twisted around to see that Gandalf had stopped behind them and was facing the other way.

“Do as I say!” Gandalf commanded, and Aragorn took the lead after that.
They were running for no more than minutes more before they encountered a gap in the stairs.

Without any hesitation, Raina and Legolas leapt across together, and landed without stumbling. The demon roared again, cracking rocks and sending them down from places in the mine.

“Gandalf,” Legolas called, who jumped after the Elves.

Raina’s attention was drawn from the others on the other side as an arrow whizzed past her head. She growled, happy to shoot more orc. Taking her bow off her shoulder once more, she shot all the cowards down with only a few more arrows than lives.

When she turned back around, Boromir had landed ahead of her, with the two cousins tumbling down. She picked them up by their arms and set them up again. With a hurried thanks from them both, they all three ran back up to the top. Sam came soaring through the air next, a look of pure shock on his face. Boromir caught him, and then they all turned back to see Aragorn, Frodo, and Gimli left.

Aragorn reached for Gimli, but he refused.

“Nobody tosses a dwarf,” he growled, and hurtled himself though the air. He didn’t quite make it, and Raina gasped in shock before Legolas grabbed the dwarf by the beard and hauled him up.

The other side of the stairs by now is shaky and about to fall over. Aragorn pulled Frodo forward and they leaned until their stairs crashed into where the rest were, and he pulled the Hobbit to safety. Raina didn’t know that she had been holding her breath until she let it out.

The next moment Raina was being pulled down the stairs once again.
Fire soon appeared behind them, chasing them forward with all they had in them. In the fire, Raina could hear the cracking of a whip, but never turned back to see how close it was to the Fellowship.

They finally reached the bridge, and Raina was ushered across by Aragorn and Legolas, but not before she heard Gandalf call to them.

“Across the bridge! Fly!”

She gasped and turned back, while being pulled away by the two men.
“Gandalf!” she called, trying to fight her way back. There was no way she was going to let him stay and fight…

Her thoughts were stopped as a black figure appeared out of the flames. She cringed back as the Fellowship stopped for a moment to watch.

“Gandalf!” she shrieked now, more urgent with each passing moment. “Run!”
The black form soon showed its full body, and Rain exhaled in horror, too afraid to scream. Legolas saw her expression, and began ushering her back to the other side of the bridge, shielding her face with his body on the way. She tried to fight back, but was too afraid to use all her energy.

“You cannot pass!” he shouted to the demon.

“Gandalf!” Raina called once more, her voice muffled by Legolas.
“I am a servant of the Secret Fire, wielder of the Flame of Anor. The dark fire will not avail you! Flame of Unûn!”

Raina had peeped from out of Legolas’s chest, but when the demon moved to strike Gandalf down, she gave a squeal and buried her face in his sleeve once more.

“Go back to the Shadow!” she heard the wizard yell over the flames.

“You- shall not-pass!” he thundered, and with that, Raina could hear the noise of more fighting, until it was soon still.

Raina moved out of Legolas’s arms and stared in amazement as the Balrog fell into the abyss.

A smile was starting to form on her face before she heard the crack of a whip. She gasped, staring helplessly as a fiery whip rose from the abyss and latched onto Gandalf’s leg.

Frodo lurched forward, but Boromir held him back as Gandalf stumbled back off the bridge, until he was just barely hanging on.

“Gandalf!” she and Frodo cried at the same time, as she tried to push forward to him. Legolas caught her by the waist, but in her desperation she fought past him and sprinted to the edge of the bridge. But by the time she got there, Gandalf had fallen.

“Fly, you fools,” reverberated in the cave-like room. Raina gave a wail of despair and collapsed at the edge of the bridge. Several moments later, she heard Legolas telling her it was time to go, and that she needed to stand. After she didn’t respond, his strong arms wrapped around her and picked her up, carrying her out of the mines.

She was set down on the stone outside the mines. She couldn’t see anything but blurs of figures through her streaming tears. Frodo sat nearby, and she crawled over to him. He was staring out into the distance, obviously thinking to some far away time. His eyes were lined with tears yet to spill, and Raina instinctively wrapped her arms around him. But when she opened her mouth to give consoling words, she choked. So instead of trying to comfort the Hobbit, she sat with him and cried.

After a moment a heavy hand was laid on Raina’s shoulder. She looked up, expecting to see Aragorn, but Boromir stood over her and Frodo. He kneeled behind them and bowed his head.

In the distance, it could have been miles away for all Raina could tell, Aragorn told Legolas to get them up.

“Give them a moment, for pity’s sake!” Boromir cried, and Raina dissolved into another wave of tears, her heart growing for the Man.

"By nightfall these hills will be swarming with Orcs! We must reach the woods of Lothlorien. Come, Boromir, Legolas, Gimli, get them up,” Aragorn reminded, although he himself seemed to want to take a break to mourn.

Raina stood up, wiping at her eyes harshly, and helped Frodo to his feet. He just stared into the distance, not uttering a word.

The others helped the other Hobbits up, and once again they were on the move.