The mines Pt. 2: literally a horror story

        They soon came upon a large open apace, which was good because Elliott was starting to get claustrophobic. He'd never had a problem with small spaces before, but tunnels, where it could fall on him and he'd slowly suffocate, just didn't do it for him. The open space wasn't much better, though, since anything could be hiding in the dark corners.

        "Let me risk a little more light," Gandalf said, making his staff glow a bit brighter. Almost as if he read Elliott's mind. It lit up a large cavern with arched ceilings and tall stone pillars, making Gimli gasp.

       "Behold: the great realm and Dwarf city of Dwarrowdelf!" Gimli proclaimed, eyes wide. And he didn't mean to be a bummer, but really? A dwarf city and the best they could name it was 'Dwarrowdelf'? Maybe it was just him being judgy though. And he'd be a hypocrite if he did, the place he was from was... was it Australis? Something like that, and he vaguely remembered that just meaning 'southern', so.

        "Now there's an eye-opener, no mistake," Sam said in wonder.

        They walked around a bit, until Gimli saw a shaft of sunlight streaming from a door and ran over.

       Gandalf narrowed his eyes as the dwarf separated from the group. "Gimli!"

       Gimli ignored him and ran into the room. Bodies and weapons were scattered everywhere, looking morbid. Almost grotesque, really, with how the clothes were all stained with blood. Gimli stopped in front of a crypt in the centre of the room, illuminated by a thin stream of light. Looking morose, Gandalf walked up beside him, eyes set on the grave.

        "No! No, no!" Gimli sobbed, falling to his knees in front of the crypt. Boromir placed his hand on the dwarf's shoulder, eyes downcast and with a sad turn to his lips.

        "'Here lies Balin, son of Fundin, Lord of Moria.' He is dead then. It is as I feared," Gandalf said gravely. Hah, get it? Grave-ly? 

        ...

        Right, no, yeah. People are dead. Not the time for jokes.

        Gandalf gave his staff and hat to Pippin, then bent down and took a large and battered book from a corpse's hands. Like, he fully yanked that thing from the skeleton's grip. He opened it and cleared the dust away, scanning it with furrowed brows.

        Gimli started chanting quietly as he cried. "Kilmin malur ni zaram kalil ra narag. Kheled-zâram... Balin tazlifi," he sobbed, and Boromir looked mildly uncomfortable, not knowing how to comfort the weeping dwarf. 

        Legolas turned to Aragorn, saying, "We must move on, we cannot linger!" 

        Aragon seemed to ignore the male, or Elliott just couldn't hear the answer, but either way, Elliott decided to sidle up beside Legolas to give him company. He wrung his hands, unsure of himself, then settled for just standing next to the elf. Honestly, he was finding it harder to talk to his own kind than any of the others! Except Gandalf, but that was just because the wizard was terrifying.

       Gandalf started reading, a grim note in his voice. "'They have taken the bridge... and the second hall.'"

        Gimli stopped sobbing and looked up, eyes wide and teary.

       "'We have barred the gates... but cannot hold them for long. The ground shakes.'"

        Pippin backed away, grip tightening on the hat and staff as his face paled.

       "Drums... drums in the deep..." he slowly turned the bloodied page, the sound of the paper turning uncomfortably loud in the silence. "'We cannot get out...'" Gandalf looked up "'They are coming!'"

        It was all completely quiet for a few seconds, until Pippin saw a skeleton sitting beside a large pit, an arrow in its chest. He turned to it, curiously twisting the arrow slightly. The skeleton's head fell off into the pit with a loud crash. All eyes turned to Pippin, who went paler in the face but redder in the ears. The rest of the body followed after, tailed by a bucket and a chain, each making more noise than the last. Pippin flinched with each crash.

        Gandalf smalled the book shut, anger on his face. "Fool of a Took! Throw yourself in next time and rid us of your stupidity!" He snatched his things bwck from Pippin, who shuffled in place awkwardly, looking upset. The Hobbit clearly needed more comforting than Legolas, so Elliott went over, wrapping an arm around him. If Gandalf had yelled at Elliott like that, he very well might have thrown himself in, out of sheer shame and embarrassment. He also would have definitely burst into tears, so he thought Pippin was being very strong. 

        Then drums started booming, just like had been mentioned in the book. Sam's eyes widened and he said, "Frodo!" and the Hobbit in question looked down and drew Sting. The sword was glowing blue, signalling that orcs were nearby.

        "Orcs!" Legolas stated the obvious, drawing his bow. What was a bow going to do in such a confined space? Probably a lot, because Legolas was an elf and had thoudands of years to practice.

        Boromir rushed to the doors to have a look, like the stereotypical idiot in all the horror books. Arrows slam into the door near his face, making him jerk away. Noticing this, Aragorn dropped his torch and ran to Boromir to help out.

        "Get back! You stay close to Gandalf!" Aragorn said to the hobbits... and Elliott? Wow. He was mildly offended at that, because he could so fight. Maybe. Who was he kidding, he was useless.

        Boromir and Aragorn slam the doors shut just as a loud bellow was heard outside. Boromir groaned. "Great, They have a cave troll," he said sarcastically.

         Legolas threw weapons to Boromir and Aragorn to block the door, which seemed dangerous. Then again, they were all trained warriors, so they could probably catch a weapon. Still, if someone lost a finger, that would really not help. The Fellowship drew their weapons. Everyone had a blade of some kind, even Gandalf, who threw away his hat and pulled out his sword, and Elliott, who had a small dagger. That is except Legolas, who had a bow.

        Gimli leapt on top of Balin's tomb, which seemed mildly disrespectful but maybe there were different customs, and brandished his axe. "Let them come! There is one dwarf yet in Moria who still draws breath!"

        Then the orcs started bashing on the door, only held back for a few seconds by Aragorn and Legolas, before the door burst open and in streamed orcs and a bloody cave troll. Wonderful.