Vanimorén brought up the rear as the four elves walked quickly down the dark passageway, lit only by the lamp of Elladan. The darkness seemed almost to reach out and claw at them, hindering their progress, but every now and again, at junctions in the passage, they would come across one of Elrohir’s marks on the tunnel wall. Vanimorén looked about warily, feeling his skin prickling. He was uneasy about something, but in that darkness, there was no way of telling what was following them except by sound. He spoke softly, not wishing to disturb the darkness.
“Is it only I who feels that something is not right? Something besides this strange blackness?”
As he strained his ears, he almost thought he caught a slight scraping sound, barely loud enough to be heard except by the ears of elves, behind them. He turned quickly, almost expecting to see something. The darkness appeared to be as it had been the last time he had checked. He scolded himself for jumping at such things, and hoped that none of the others had noticed. However, he slipped his hand to the hilt of his sword, just in case. The precious metal was a strange comfort under his hand, and he gripped it tightly.
Soon, he heard the sound again, louder, closer. He paused, wondering if the others had noticed it this time. His grip tightened on his sword hilt and he whirled around, gazing into the darkness. He knew something was there. It wasn’t like him to jump at shadows. Still, there didn’t appear to be any immediate threats to the party…
[ June 20, 2003: Message edited by: Dark Shadow ]
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