Princess of China

We walked for days through what almost looked like a canyon, surrounded by fog, mist and lots of rock. I mainly walked by Legolas since I felt the most comfortable around him, and plus he always helped me when I needed it.

We stopped for a moment and I was glad to be able to rest my feet. Sure I had gotten stronger and was able to walk a whole lot more, but boots are the most uncomfortable shoes to walk in ever.

Gimli gasped and said: "The walls of Moria."

I looked to the right and saw what looked like an ordinary stone wall. A very tall, ordinary stone wall.

We finally made it where we were supposed to be, I guess. We spent at least an hour or more walking along a stone wall, while Gandalf searched for something.

"Dwarf doors are invisible when closed." Gimli said, knocking his axe against the wall. I waited for something to knock back.

"Yes, Gimli, their own masters cannot find them if their secrets are forgotten." Gandalf said.

"Why doesn't that surprise me?" Legolas asked and I had to take deep breaths to hold my laughter back.

I think Gandalf finally found what he was looking for because he was feeling along a certain part of the wall, dusting off certain parts, mumbling to himself about starlight and moonlight.

As if on cue, the moon came out from behind a cloud and a whole design on the wall lit up.

"It reads, 'The Doors of Durin, Lord of Moria. Speak friend and enter'."

"What do you suppose that means?" Merry asked.

"It's simple. If you are a friend you speak the password and the doors will open."

I had a feeling that wasn't it. Gandalf spoke some language but nothing happened. He tried something else, but that didn't work either.

"Nothing's happening." Pippin said.

Gandalf tried pushing on it, but still nothing worked.

"I once knew every spell in all the tongues of Elves, Men and Orcs." Gandalf said, mostly speaking to himself.

"What are you going to do then?" Pippin asked.

"Knock your head against these doors, Peregrin Took. And if that does not shatter them and I am allowed a little peace from foolish questions, I will try to find the opening words."

And with that we were all stuck, waiting for Gandalf to find the right combination to get us into Moria. I sat down on a rock and pulled my knees to my chest. I watched as Sam and Aragorn sent Bill back (which I was very sad about) and Merry and Pippin threw rocks in the water.

Aragorn caught Pippin's arm as he was about to throw a rock.

"Do not disturb the water." He said quietly.

Gandalf sat down and took off his hat, giving up. I watched as small waves moved across the surface of the water. It made me uneasy and I shifted uncomfortably. Boromir moved closer to Aragorn and we watched as more small waves moved closer to the shore. I jumped off my rock, ready to beat it if something came up. More waves moved closer and faster.

Gandalf spoke something and suddenly the doors opened. We all walked in, not knowing what to expect.

"Soon, Master Elf, you will enjoy the fabled hospitality of the Dwarves." Gimli said. I was having a bad feeling about this. "Roaring fires, malt bear, ripe meat off the bone. This, my friend is the home of my cousin Balin. And they call it a mine. A mine!" Gimli laughed.

Gandalf had a light at the top of his staff and was looking at the stairs ahead of us.

"This is no mine." Boromir said. "It's a tomb." I looked around and saw skeletons wearing armor with arrows sticking in places.

"No!" Gimli shouted.

Legolas plucked one of the arrows and looked at it. "Goblins." He said.

Aragorn and Boromir drew their swords and Legolas drew an arrow. I held on to the hilt of mine.

"We make for the gap of Rohan. We should never have come here." Boromir said.

"Get out of here! Get out!"

"Frodo!" The hobbits shouted.

I turned and saw Frodo being pulled along the ground by a tentacle.

"Strider!" Sam shouted.

The hobbits managed to get Frodo free from the tentacle. Only to have a dozen more come flying towards them, knocking them backwards, and dragging Frodo into the air.

We all ran out, but I stood back by Gandalf and Legolas, letting the men do all the work. That and I didn't trust my sword skills enough to help. I'd probably just end up killing someone.

Frodo fell and Boromir caught him.

"Into the mines!" Gandalf shouted.

I hauled ass back through the doorway, trying to dodge skeletons on the ground. Pieces of the wall fell around the door, caving us in. For a moment it was completely dark and all you could hear was everyone's heavy breathing.

"We now have but one choice." Gandalf said, making the top of his staff light up again. "We must face the long dark of Moria." He started walking forward. "Be on your guard. There are older and fouler things than orcs in the deep places of the world." I walked almost beside Legolas, needing comfort and something to keep my mind off claustrophobia. I'm okay until I think about it. Then, things get ugly. "Quietly now. It's a four-day journey to the other side. Let us hope that our presence may go unnoticed.

I hated walking through Moria. There were places where the only solid ground was a small walkway barely wide enough for one person to walk, and the rest of the floor dropped down thousands of feet. My vertigo would get the best of me sometimes and I would get a little dizzy. Obviously I would never make it as a dwarf.

We passed old mining supplies like ladders and buckets on chains.

"The wealth of Moria was not in gold or jewels, but mithril." Gandalf said.

He leaned his staff down into the hole we were walking around. The entire hole seemed to glow and thin lines of silver popped out on the stone. I gently held on to Legolas' arm and leaned over to look.

"Bilbo had a shirt of mithril rings that Thorin gave him." We continued on as Gandalf spoke.

"Oh, that was a kingly gift." Gimli said.

"Yes. I never told him but its worth was greater than the value of the Shire."

We walked on until we came to a very steep staircase. I almost peed my pants when I saw it.

Legolas let me go ahead of him and as I was he whispered: "If you shall fall, I will catch you" into my ear. I couldn't help the shiver that ran down my spine.

"Thank you." I whispered back.

I followed Gandalf and the stairs weren't that bad. I was just terrified of slipping.

I almost jumped for joy when I reached the top.

"I have no memory of this place." Gandalf said quietly.

We ended up building a fire and sitting for a while, while Gandalf tried to remember where to go.

"Merry?" Pippin whispered.

"What?"

"I'm hungry." I bit my lip to keep from laughing.

I was sitting between Boromir and Aragorn, enjoying both the warmth from the fire and from both men.

Gandalf was speaking to Frodo, though I wasn't listing. I was thinking about what Gandalf had told me about my grandma. He said she had a burn like mine also. I had never seen it. Although she always did keep her right wrist covered…

"Oh!" Gandalf said loudly. "It's that way." We all turned and looked at him.

"He's remembered." Merry said.

"No. But the air doesn't smell so foul down here." We grabbed our stuff and walked towards Gandalf. "If in doubt Meriadoc, always follow your nose."

We continued down the tunnel and it took a lot of concentration to not get claustrophobic. Even when the tunnel opened up and Gandalf made his staff lighter.

"Behold the great realm and dwarf city of Dwarrowdelf."

I felt better once I could see we were in a very large hall. There were huge, magnificent stone pillars rising up all around us.

"There's an eye opener and no mistake." Sam said.

"You've got that right." I said quietly.

WE walked through the hall and I suddenly felt very, very small compared to the pillars. We passed a room with the door open and lots of skeletons around it. Gimli ran towards it, away from us.

We followed him into a room where what looked like a tomb sat with a beam of light over it. It made me feel better seeing that small ray of light from outside.

"Here lies Balin, son of Fundin Lord of Moria. He is dead then. It's as I feared." Gandalf said over Gimli's sobs.

Gandalf handed Pippin his hat (which was almost the size of Pippin) and staff before picking up a book.

"We must move on. We cannot linger." Legolas whispered to Aragorn.

"They have taken the bridge and the second hall." Gandalf read. "We have barred the gates but cannot hold them for long. The ground shakes. Drums, drums in the deep." Gandalf looked at us before turning the page and reading on. "We cannot get out. A shadow moves in the dark. We cannot get out. They are coming."

Suddenly there was a clang and I jumped a little. Gandalf spun around and looked at Pippin. The skeleton sitting on a well looking thing fell backwards down it, dragging a bucket on a chain with it. You could hear it for quite some time. It seemed to echo everywhere around us. Gandalf turned to Pippin who looked like he was about to cry.

"Fool of a Took!" Gandalf said, closing the book. "Throw yourself in next time and rid us of your stupidity." Gandalf yanked his hat and staff away from Pippin.

There was a second of silence before a sound of distant drumming could be heard, and some horrible noise that sounded like a flock of deranged turkeys.

The sound got louder and Legolas said: "Orcs."

Boromir ran to the door and looked out, only to be almost shot in the head with two arrows.

"Get back. Stay close to Gandalf." Aragorn said to the hobbits. I ran back by Gandalf.

"They have a cave troll." Boromir said.

I wanted to ask what a cave troll was, but I knew I'd be finding out soon. The four hobbits, Gandalf and I watched as Boromir, Legolas and Aragorn did their best to board the doors shut. Gandalf drew his sword and so did the four hobbits. I figured I would have to also, even though I'd be dying soon, might as well go out bravely.

The sword felt heavy in my hand like it had before when we encountered the ring wraiths.

The orcs were pounding at the door, trying to get through. Gimli stood on his cousin's grave and Legolas, Aragorn and Boromir stood in front of everyone.

"Let them come." Gimli growled. "There is one dwarf yet in Moria who still draws breath."

The orcs had managed to break some of the wood on the door. Legolas shot through the hole and hit an orc, sending it squealing like a chicken that got ran over.

They finally broke through and charged forward and so did the four hobbits, but I couldn't convince myself to move.

That was until the first orc swung at me. I held up my sword and blocked the blow, making my arm vibrate from the sheer force of it. I swung at the orc awkwardly, but I think I did something right because it fell over and stopped moving. I wanted to celebrate, but looked and saw two orcs coming at me from different directions.

"Oh crap." I said before swinging the sword around like a mad woman. I managed to take them both down easily. "Hey, this isn't so bad."

Until something very large, ugly and strong burst through the door. Legolas shot an arrow at it, but it just kept moving. So that's a cave troll.

"Crap." I breathed before taking down more orcs.

I had to keep away from that thing as much as possible. Using a sword became easier and easier as I went along.

Boromir was thrown on the wall close to me by the cave troll. I watched in amazement as Aragorn through his sword into the neck of an orc who was about to attack Boromir.

While I was distracted, I hadn't noticed the orc that had snuck up behind me until a second too late. Right as I was turning, the orc was thrusting his blade forward and it caught me on the side. The cut wasn't deep but it hurt like hell. The orc knocked me off my feet and was ready to deliver the final blow when and arrow pierced his throat. He gargled and sputtered a moment before falling backwards. I spun around and saw Legolas who nodded to me. I nodded back before getting up and, ignoring the pain in my side, went back to killing orcs. The cave troll had tried attacking Legolas, but somehow Legolas got on top of the cave troll and shot arrows into its head, but the stupid thing wouldn't die. I saw, well heard, Sam close to me and ran over towards him.

"Sam!" I shouted and held my hand up. He got the message and tossed me a pan.

I swung at the nearest orc, using my year of softball training and hit him in the face. He did the classic cartoon spitting out teeth, eyes rolled back in his head, falling backwards. I ran up to Sam and handed him his pan back.

"Nice job." HE said, hitting more orcs.

"Thanks!" I said back, killing another orc.

The sword had almost become another body part now. Of course a great deal of it had to do with adrenaline and the fact I had no other choice. It was a kill or be killed situation.

I heard Aragorn shout out Frodo's name, but I was preoccupied because I had managed to get myself cornered by 5 orcs.

My right wrist felt extremely warm and I looked down and saw the burn was bright red with black veins trailing up my arm. I didn't have time to think about it because the first orc charged at me. I fought him off easily and the other four as well. I looked over in time to see Aragorn get thrown to the side by the cave troll and Frodo get stabbed. I wanted to shout out, but I couldn't find the strength to. Merry and Pippin jumped on the cave troll and started stabbing his head. I found myself by Boromir killing the few remaining orcs. It seemed like everyone was fighting with more intensity now because I sure as hell was.

The only thing left was the cave troll who was easily taken down by an arrow to the lip by Legolas. It fell with a thud and it seemed to take everyone a second to realize it was over. It was then we all paid attention to Frodo. I placed my hand on my side and it came back red and sticky.

"Are you alright?" Boromir asked.

"Yes. I'll live." I winced as I started walking towards Frodo.

Aragorn rolled him over and he turned up breathing.

"He's alive." Sam said making everyone's hearts beat a little slower. Frodo unbuttoned his shirt, showing off a shiny one underneath.

"You are full of surprised, Master Baggins." Gimli said.

The sound of more orcs filled the air and I drew a ragged breath.

"To the bridge of Khazad-dum." Gandalf said.

We ran out of the room and through the halls. It hurt to run, but I did it anyways. The orcs seemed to be growing from the floor and ceiling all around us. We were surrounded by thousands of orcs and there was no getting out. I hid behind Boromir when we stopped, leaning against his back to try and ease the pain in my side.

Suddenly, when everything was silent, there was a wicked, deep growl from somewhere and the hall behind us lit up red. My wrist started burning like no other and I held it to my chest. It growled again and the orcs all scattered, climbing up the pillars again.

'Well that was easy.' I thought, but I still leaned against Boromir's back.

"What is this new devilry?" He asked.

There was a moment of suspenseful silence and another growl which sounded like two cinderblocks being scraped slowly together.

"A balrog." I had heard that before in my grandma's stories. "A demon of the ancient world. This foe is beyond any of you. Run!" He shouted.

Something inside me drove me to run faster than I ever had before. I really hoped I'd never have to meet a balrog.

We went through a doorway and down a bunch of stairs, which only led us to a hole in the staircase. Legolas jumped first, making it look easy. It was either jump or face the balrog. It was getting closer and it was shaking the ground. My heart was pounding a million miles an hour.

"Gandalf!" Legolas shouted. Gandalf jumped and I realized it wasn't that big of a gap.

Suddenly arrows started flying towards us and we saw orcs trying to take us out. Legolas shot and hit one easily. How in the hell did he do it?

"Aria!" Boromir shouted and it was now or never.

With the help of Boromir I was able to jump to the other side to Legolas who caught me like I weighed nothing. I was able to breathe a little easier now.

"Merry! Pippin!" Boromir shouted and grabbed them. He jumped right as part of the stairway gave out, leaving a bigger gap for Gimli, Sam, Frodo and Aragorn.

More orcs were shooting at us and Legolas was picking off more and more of them. Aragorn threw Sam over to Gandalf who caught him easily.

"Nobody tosses a dwarf." Gimli said to Aragorn.

Gimli jumped and almost made it, but was falling backwards. Legolas grabbed on to his beard.

"Not the beard!" He shouted.

Legolas managed to get Gimli up safely. More of the staircase was falling off and Aragorn and Frodo were having to act quickly. The balrog was closer now and pieces of the walls were falling off. One huge piece made a hole farther up the staircase, leaving a small unsteady part that Aragorn and Frodo were standing on. It started to crumble at the base, leaving Aragorn and Frodo rocking back and forth. It was one of those I don't want to watch but I have to moments. They leaned forward and managed to get to us safely. We continued running down the stairs to the bridge.

"Over the bridge!" Gandalf shouted when we got to the bottom of the stairs. "Fly!" He let us go in front of him.

There was something very large, hot and dangerous following behind us. My wrist felt like it was on fire. Its footsteps shook the ground making it hard to run. I ran for my life across the narrow bridge, not wanting to meet the balrog that was chasing us.

Gandalf stopped in the middle of the bridge and faced what looked like a huge fireball with a ram head. It was freaking terrifying.

"You cannot pass!" Gandalf shouted.

"Gandalf!" Frodo shouted.

The balrog stood up tall and lit itself on fire. I looked down at my wrist where my burn was. It was glowing red and it felt like it was literally on fire. The black veins were covering my hand now and, if I were in a different situation, I would have screamed out loud. I grabbed on to the hand of the person to my left which happened to be Legolas. I was expecting him to jerk his hand away, but, surprisingly, he held it tighter.

"I am a servant of the Secret Fire, wielder of the flame or Anor." Gandalf lifted his staff and sword and a blue light bubble surrounded him. "The dark fire will not avail you, flame of Udun! The balrog lifted his sword of fire back and brought it down on Gandalf, only to have it deflected by the bubble.

The balrog roared and Gandalf and I noticed what looked like two big wings on its back.

"Go back to the shadow!" The Balrog stepped forward with a fiery whip and I held my breath.
You shall not pass!" Gandalf yelled and hit his staff on the bridge.

There was a small flash of light, and I'm pretty sure the balrog and I were thinking the same thing: 'That's it?' The balrog snorted before taking a step forward, only to have the bridge give out under him. He fell, giving out one last roar.

Gandalf turned to walk back, but was caught around the ankle by the whip and dragged over the edge of the bridge. He caught himself on the ledge and tried to climb back up but couldn't. Boromir caught Frodo who was trying to run to Gandalf.

"Fly you fools." Gandalf said before letting go and falling out of sight.

We all ran up the stairs and outside where we were greeted by sunlight. We all stopped for a moment while everyone mourned and processed what just happened. I held on to my side which, since the adrenaline was wearing off, was hurting like a bitch. I pulled my hand back and saw wet, sticky red. Maybe the orc had cut me deeper than I thought, and I just hadn't noticed in the heat of the moment.

"Legolas, get them up." Aragorn said.

"Give them a moment for pity's sake!" Boromir yelled.

"By nightfall these hills will be swarming with orcs. We must reach the woods of Lothlorien. Come, Boromir, Legolas, Gimli, get them up." Aragorn ran over to Sam and stood him up.

I helped Merry and Pippin up.

"You're hurt." Merry said quietly.

"Shh." I said, putting my finger to my mouth.

As long as I keep constant pressure on it, I might make it to Lothlorien, however far that is. Maybe.