Eliza's Adventure (Aragorn Love Story)

- 12 -

We had been walking quietly through the mine all day and everybody was tense. The mine was silent around us and we didn't want to disturb any creatures that could be lurking. We descended down a tunnel which opened into what must've been a grand hall. 

Suddenly, Gimli let out a yell and started running toward an open room on one side of the hall. We followed him trying to stay quiet. When we got into the room, Gimli was sobbing against someone's tomb. Gandalf read that it was his cousin Balin. I knelt beside Gimli and put an arm around him as Gandalf started to read something out of a book he had pulled from the hands of a nearby skeleton.

"You can not get out, they are coming." Gandalf read.

A shiver went down my spine and I noticed Legolas and Aragorn tense at the ominous message. We were itching to get out of here. 

Then, Pippin accidentally bumped a skeleton which fell all the way down a well and made a huge ruckus. I jumped onto my feet and put a hand on my bow as we waited to see if our presence had been noticed. 

Not a minute later and we heard a loud sound, a drum. More drums sounded all around us and soon screeches had joined the noise. The company jumped into action. Legolas and I threw spears to Boromir and Aragorn to bar the door while the hobbits and Gandalf whipped out their swords. Gimli stood, fueled by anger at what had been done to his cousin and I notched an arrow into my bow.

They broke through the door and chaos ensued. I lost track of how many arrows I had shot as we moved and dodged and fought against the rampage of orcs. Eventually, I switched to my sword and tried to stay close to the hobbits. Then, a cave troll burst in. I gasped and lunged aside as it swung its club down at us. I grimaced as I landed on my stomach which was still bruised and blistered from our encounter with the squid monster earlier. 

Aragorn must've seen me land because next thing I knew, there was a hand pulling me up and pushing me out of the way as the club came down again. "Are you okay?" he yelled over to me.

"Never better!" I shouted back. 

I took a second and quickly glanced around to see how everyone else was doing. The hobbits were fighting bravely beside Gandalf. Gimli and Aragorn were back to back taking out orcs. I looked over and saw Boromir on his back on the other side of the room with an orc over him. Thinking fast, I grabbed a spear that had been on the ground, aimed, and threw it perfectly at the orc. Boromir looked up and nodded his thanks. I nodded back and turned to see how the last member of the company was doing. 

Where is Legolas? I thought with alarm when I didn't see him on the ground anywhere. Then, looking up, I saw him...on top of the cave troll.

"Are you insane?!" I yelled at him. "Legolas, get down!" I shot a couple arrows at the cave troll to keep him from trying to buck the elf off.

He shot two arrows through the troll's head and slid down to land next to me. "You underestimate me, Ellie." Legolas grinned.

I rolled my eyes. "Well, your efforts didn't seem to slow him down much." We both groaned as the cave troll started swinging the club again.

It was walking toward the hobbits and it tried to grab Frodo. "Aragorn! Eliza!" Frodo yelled out for help.

Both Aragorn and I sprinted toward him. I swung my sword at the troll's legs while Aragorn stuck a spear in its side. However, with one bat of its hand, Aragorn had been thrown against the wall like I had been on the tower of Ammon Sul by the Nazgul. "Aragorn!" I yelled, trying to keep the troll away from Frodo while checking to see if Aragorn was okay.

All of the sudden, an orc appeared in front of me and I lost track of the troll for one second. I killed the orc and turned just as the troll shoved a spear in Frodo's chest. "No!" I screamed and everyone started fighting twice as hard to get through the orcs so we could check on Frodo.

When the cave troll was dead, we all ran to Frodo. I reached him first and saw his eyes were closed. "No," I whispered and tears welled up in my eyes. Suddenly, Aragorn was beside me. He turned Frodo and Frodo coughed. "Oh my gosh, you're alive!" I screamed and pulled him into a hug.

"I'm okay." He whispered back.

Aragorn looked at him in amazement. "That would've skewered a wild boar!"

We all watched in awe as Frodo pulled at the top layer of clothes to reveal a shiny, white shirt underneath. "Mithril!" Legolas whispered. 

"Praise the Lord for whatever that is!" I said and a couple of them let out a relieved chuckle. I stepped out of the way so the other hobbits and Gandalf could check on Frodo and turned to Aragorn. "Are you okay? I saw you hit that pillar. That can give some people concussions!"

He gave a small laugh. "I'm bruised but other than that, no harm done." He put a hand on my shoulder to reassure me then said, "I guess my head is stronger than yours." He danced out of my reach as I went to slap him on the arm, then we started to gather everyone up to continue out of the mines.