"I am strong; you can not get me down. Try, and you will burn."

{••••}

"The walls of Moria!" Gimli said in awe as they saw an enormous stone wall looming out of the mist. Ilmare sighed softly. Pippin, who walked beside her, heard this. "have you seen this place before, lady Ilmare?" he said in a curious tone. "yes, master Pergirn, long ago when it was still full of tundari. the time before the Blarog came and killed them all." Ilmare said and walked further on. Pippin was quiet after that. Fellowship walks by the side of the lake. Frodo's foot slips into the water. He gasps as a hand suddenly drags him back. "be careful, Master Baggins." Ilmare's soft voice says in his ear. Her voice soothes him, and he calms down and continues to walk on.

Soon, Ilmare can make out an outline of the doors. "Now, let's see. Ithildin -- it mirrors only starlight and moonlight." Gandalf says beside her. The Moon appears, and the Doors start to illuminate. "It reads, "The doors of Durin - Lord of Moria. Speak, friend, and enter." Gandalf read out loud. "What do you suppose that means?" Merry aks and Ilmare chukles softly. "Oh, it's quite simple. If you are a friend, you speak the password, and the doors will open." this causes Ilmare to break out in a fit of chuckles, but she says nothing. Gandalf sends her a look, but she ignores it. "Annon Edhellen edro hi ammen! (Gate of the Elves open now for me!)." he then says and opens his arms against the doors. The Doors remain closed. Gandalf begins to push it with his staff.

Time passes. The rest of the Fellowship are seated around the doors or near the lake, still waiting for Gandalf to open it. "Ando Eldarinwa a lasta quettanya, Fenda Casarinwa! (Gate of Elves listen to my word, Threshold of Dwarves!)." Gandalf tries again. "The mines are no place for a pony, even one so brave as Bill," Aragorn says as he unhitches Bill's bridle. "Buh-bye Bill," Sam says sadly. "Go on, Bill, go on. Don't worry, Sam; he knows the way home." Aragorn says as he smacks Bill's rear lightly. Merry begins to throw stones into the water. Pippin follows suit, but Ilmare stops him. "Do not disturb the water," she says, and let's go of his hand.

"Oh, it's useless!" Gandalf exclaims, exasperated, and slumps down on a nearby rock. Frodo stands and looks at the writings intently. "It's a riddle. Speak "friend" and enter. What's the Elvish word for friend?" he says and glances at Gandalf. "Mellon," Gandalf answers. The stone doors slowly swing open. The Fellowship enters Moria. "Soon, master elf, you will enjoy the fabled hospitality of the dwarves. Roaring fires, malt beer, ripe meat off the bone. This, my friend, is the home of my cousin Balin. And they call it a mine. A mine!" Gimli boasts to Legolas, who listens. Suddenly, Ilmare's foot bumps against something, something she knows the sound of too well. Corpses. "This is no mine; it's a tomb!" Boromir exclaims, and Ilmare lets out a growl.

She is suddenly a giant white wolf, and the Fellowship staggers back in surprise but soon recoils from it. Now they see it. Dwarf corpses litter the floor. "Oh! No! Noooo!!!" Gimli sobs and Ilmare walks up to him and nudge him softly with her nose. "it's okay, Master Dwarf," she whispers. Legolas then picks up an arrow from the body of a fallen dwarf, examines it, and casts it away in disgust. "Goblins!" he says. Ilmare now stands in an attack position and growls lowly while her white blue eyes scan the darkness for any movement. Legolas, Aragorn, and Boromir draw out their swords. "We make for the Gap of Rohan. We should never have come here." Boromir says and looks around.

The four hobbits are backing toward the door. Something stirs in the water behind them. "Now get out of here, get out!" Boromir shouts. The whole company starts for the door. Suddenly, Frodo is grabbed from behind and pulled off his feet by the Watcher in the water. "Frodo!" Sam, Merry, and Pippin call. Ilmare immediately pounces at the beast, biting it hard. The Watcher screens and whips his tentacle violently, trying to shake the giant wolf off his arm. But her bites are firm and complex, and she does not sway, only biting harder. Soon, The Wathver can't take the pain, and lets go of Frodo before using his other tentacles to grab after Ilmare. Finally, he then gets her and throws her against the stony ground. Her head hits the ground, and her vision gets blurry.

That was the last straw. Ilmare closes her eyes and opens them again before letting out a roar. It's so loud that the rest of the Fellowship have to cover their ears. The water roars in agony and slinks back to the water. "Come!" Ilmare says and leaps towards the doors. Legolas shoots an arrow straight into the Watcher's eye. It pulls back, and as the Fellowship race into Moria, it reaches out and slams the gates shut. Slabs of rocks drop, and the roof of the passageway collapses. Total darkness falls. Then a beam of light emits from Gandalf's staff, showing the startled faces of the Fellowship. "We now have but one choice. We must face the long dark of Moria. Be on your guard. There are older and fouler things than orcs in the deep places of the world." Gandalf says as The Fellowship carefully picks its way over the floor and up the broad steps. Ilmare hasn't transformed yet, but it doesn't seem to bother anyone.

"Quietly now. It's a four-day journey to the other side. Let us hope that our presence may go unnoticed." Gandalf says. The Fellowship enters a great cavern with a winding walkway down through the middle. They then climb up steep steps on the side of a cavern with many buildings and stalagmites above them. Pippin loses his footing and slips onto Merry. "Pippin!" merry hisses.

-Four days later-

On the fourth day of their journey, the Fellowship climbs another flight of stairs to a crossroads in the mine: three portals loom before them. "I have no memory of this place," Gandalf says thoughtfully. he then looks at Ilmare, who shakes her canine head and lays down on the stone floor. Frodo and the rest of the halflings sit down next to her, using her side to lean on. "Are we lost?" Pippin says. "No," merry answers. "I think we are," Pippin says again. "Shhh! Gandalf's thinking," Merry says, annoyed. Ilmare chukles softly, and soon she starts to hum a soft tune. It lulls the hobbits to a bit of sleep. "Who are you singing about?" Legolas suddenly asks beside Ilmare, who looks up at him with her white blue eyes. "My family. My mother leaned me this when I was just a vrak. I sing it often; it reminds me of home" Ilmare lets out a soft sigh before laying her head towards where the hobbits are sleeping; Legolas smiles at the sight and strokes her fur. It is altered soft, and he can feel her muscles under it.

-time skip-

The hobbits are now awake, and Frodo is sitting beside Ilmare, who still is lying down. Suddenly he looks down into the cavern and sees a small figure leaping from stone to stone. Startled, he walks over to where Gandalf is sitting. "There's something down there," he says. "It's Gollum," Ilmare says. "Gollum?" Frodo asked. "He's been following us for three days," Gandalf adds. "He escaped the dungeons of Barad-Dur!" Frodo exclaims. "Escaped? Or set loose?" Ilmare says and looks at Frodo. From a distance below, Gollum looks up; his large eyes pierce the darkness and observe the company. "He hates and loves the Ring, as he hates and loves himself. He will never be rid of his need for it." Gandalf says. "It's a pity Bilbo didn't kill him when he had the chance!" Frodo huffs. "Pity? It was pity that stayed Bilbo's hand. Many that live to deserve death, and some that die to deserve life. Can you give it to them, Frodo?" Ilmare aks while her white blue eyes bore into Frodo's.

"Do not be too eager to deal out death in judgment. Even the very wise can not see all ends. My heart tells me that Gollum has some part to play yet, for good or ill, before this is over. The pity of Bilbo may rule the fate of many." Gandalf ends. Gollum slinks off. Frodo sits down next to Gandalf. "I wish the Ring had never come to me. I wish none of this had happened." Frodo says. "So do all who live to see such times, but that is not for them to decide. 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, Frodo, besides the will of evil. Bilbo was meant to find the Ring, in which case you also were meant to have it. And that is an encouraging thought." Gandalf smiles.

Gandalf then looks towards one of the doorways. "Ah! It's that way," he exclaims. "He's remembered!" Merry beam. "No, but the air doesn't smell so foul down here. If, in doubt, Meriadoc always follows your nose.". The Fellowship heads down the left-hand passage, and before long, they come to more open space. "Let me risk a little more light," Gandalf says. His staff illuminates a magnificent hall of stone-lined with tall pillars and arched ceilings as far as the eye can see. Members of the Fellowship, including Gimli, react in awe. "Behold the great realm and dwarf city of Dwarrowdelf," Gandalf says. "Just as pretty as I remember," Ilmare says with a toothy smile.

"Now there's an eye-opener and no mistake," Sam says and looks breathless at sight in front of him. Fellowship walks forward through the hall. Gimli sees a ray of sunlight shining through the Chamber of Mazarbul. Corpses lay scattered about. "Haugh!" Gimli says and runs towards the light. "Gimli!" Gandalf calls, but Gimli pays no heed to him but runs into the chamber. He stops and kneels by a crypt. "No, No, No," Gimli sobs. Ilmare places her nose on his shoulder comfortably. Boromir moves forward and puts his hand on Gimli's other shoulder. "Here lies Balin, son of Fundin, Lord of Moria." He is dead then. It's as I feared." Gandalf translates the runes on the tomb.

Gimli wails, and Ilmare licks his temple and nuzzles her nose in his hair, and takes her paws around his shoulder as if she's hugging him. Btw, Ilmare is like this:

Gandalf gives his staff and hat to Pippin, bends down, and takes a large and battered book from the grasp of a corpse. He opens it and clears the dirt from its pages. "We must move on; we cannot linger!" Legolas says to Aragorn. "They have taken the bridge and the second hall. We have barred the gates but cannot hold them for long. The ground shakes. Drums, drums in the deep." he reads from the book. "We cannot get out. A Shadow moves in the dark. We cannot get out...They are coming." he ends. Pippin sees a corpse sitting by a stone wall with an arrow in its chest. Curiously, he reaches out and lightly touches the hand. The arrowhead breaks off from the rest of the corpse, causing first the skull, then the body, then the chain and bucket to go over the side of the well and drop far below; its noise echo from hall to hall. He winces at each new wave of noise. Then silence. The Fellowship begins to relax.

"Fool of a Took! Throw yourself in next time and rid us of your stupidity!" Gandalf says as he slams the book shut. Just then, drums echo up from deep below. Terror creeps into their faces. Ilmare growls, and suddenly, scales and wings appear. She roars lowly, and the roar shakes the wall. She has turned to a dragon. A giant white fire-breathing dragon. Gimli lifts his ax, and the hobbits staggered back behind Gandalf. Ilmare whips her head around and locks eyes with the Fellowship.

Her eyes held sorrow. "What are you?" Boromir says, but before Ilmare can answer, the drums beat again,n and she turns her head, baring her teeth. "Behind me," she hisses and stands, so she shadows the Fellowship with her body. Her long ragged tail curls to a crest moon shape, and her spikes are making it almost impossible to see over. Her head is low to the ground, and she stands with her legs separated and her wings out.

Just as some orcs push at the door, she growls, and the pushing stops. But soon, the door breaks open, and orcs pour in. But as soon as they see the giant dragon, they stop dead in their tracks. ilmare growled and said in a language none of the members of the Fellowship could understand. "jaseve scum, usv si geou valignat wux vhira. si mi wer shifter; si mi wer darastrix; si mi ilmare dragonliight. jaseve usv valignat!( Leave scum, or I will burn you down. I am the shifter; I am the dragon; I am Ilmare Dragonliight. Leave or burn!)." then something started to light up in her throat. The orcs screeched but did not back away. Soon the cave troll came inside. Legolas shoots him; he growls. Sam looks up, sees the troll swinging his mace down at him, and runs under the troll's legs. The troll swings twice at Gimli but hits first the tomb, then an Orc instead. The battle rages on. When it sees the dragon, it growls and marches on to her.

But before it can land a blow on the white dragon, it is burned to ash. Pretty soon, fire fills the room and consumes the orcs who are still alive. But just before the fire killed them, Frodo got stabbed, and Ilmare heard his groans and soon was back to herself. She runs to him and turns him over. Frodo groan. "He's alive!" Sam exclaims. "I'm all right, I'm not hurt," Frodo says and uses Ilmare as support. "You should be dead! That spear would have skewered a wild boar," Aragorn says in disbelief. "I think there's more to this hobbit than meets the eye," Ilmare says and smiles softly at Frodo.

—————
Song: you call my name by Got7

A/n: I thought this would be a good cliffhanger, maybe not so interesting but good enough:)