The Fellowship of the Toys
by Peregrine
Chapter 3: Journey Beyond the Doors
Pushing the blinds aside, Legolases, Third Legolas,
Aragorn with Brego, Aragorn, Frodo and Treebeard gazed through the dog
nose-smeared window at the snowy ground far . . . far . . . far below.
Frodo shook his head and looked up at Aragorn mounted atop Brego.
"You can't be serious." He groaned. "I mean, even Dirk will have trouble with that jump!"
"As will Brego, but it seems to be the only way out." Aragorn answered.
"What about the door, then?" Third Legolas asked. "If we do get it
open, we just can't LEAVE it open. Someone could get in and then the
Big Ones would be very upset at us."
Aragorn frowned.
"I had not thought of that."
"Do not fear." Legolases chimed together. "Aravan can fly back up and pull it shut."
Aragorn grinned.
"There, you see? Problem solved. Now let us find a way to open this door and get out adventure under way, shall we?"
Frodo sighed, but he made no further arguments.
"Now . . . how to get that door OPEN." Aragron mused aloud, rubbing his chin.
"Hoom-baroom," Treebeared groaned. "First . . . we should . . . open the . . .blinds."
"Good thinking, Treebeard." Aragorn nodded.
"Dirk'll take care of that." Frodo said. He gave a short whistle and
Dirk, taking a running leap, grabbed the cord in his paws and fell back
to earth--nearly landing in the dogs' water dish. But the blinds flew
open and dazzling sunlight came shinning in through the door.
Snow--very deep snow--shimmered blindingly under the brilliant sun and
it was hard to look directly out the window, and it was impossible to
do so without squinting.
"Well, that's one problem solved." Second Aragorn said from his perch
atop Camel. The camel, already quite upset at being so far away from
his nice little shelf, groaned loudly and swished his tail. He turned
around to bite someone, but Legolas slapped him on the nose with his
bow. Camel protested loudly, but sought to gain no more damage.
"Okay, now to get the door open." Aragorn upon Brego murmered. He
looked up at the tiny latch high above their heads. That latch would
unlock the door and enable them to push it--somehow--open. "I would
have one of the Dragons unlatch the door, but I say we needs must
husband the steeds' strength. So the rest of us must do it."
"What if we all stood on Treebeard's shoulders?" Frodo asked. "I could stand on the very top and get it unlocked."
"Perfect!" Aragorn agreed. He turned to Treebeard, the Ent looking none
to happy with the prospect of being stood upon by beings each nearly as
tall as he was.
"I . . . do not know . . . if I can . . . hold you all . . . up."
Third Legolas grinned and patted Camel upon the head, the camel grunting in annoyance.
"Why don't we stand upon Camel? He can easily support all of our weight and he is taller."
"Very well." Aragorn nodded while Camel roared his disapproval. But no
one was listening. So finally he gave up and let the silly Elves and
Humans and Hobbit do as they would. He would get them yet.
So Aragorn without Brego stood upon Camel's back, second Aragorn upon
his shoulders. Since the Legolases--all three of them--were lighter
than the Humans, they stood upon second Aragorn's shoulders. Third
Legolas was on the bottom with Legolas balanced upon his shouldes and
Legolas balanced upon HIS shouldes. Finally, gripping his booted feet
in his hands, Legolas held Frodo as close to the latch as he could.
"Can you reach it?" Legolases asked together.
"Almost." Frodo grunted, stretching for the lock. His fingers brushed
it, but he was just too low to reach it. "I'm not tall enough. I can't
reach it."
"Try jumping for it." Aragorn called up. "Treebeard, catch him if he falls."
"Boom-harroom. I shall."
Frodo grimaced and said a quick little prayer. Then, mustering his
strength and his courage, he made a great leap and grabbed a hold of
the latch. But he was too light!
"I can't move it!" he wailed. "I am too light!"
Suddenly, without warning, Legolas One jumped up and grabbed Frodo's
feet. Legolas Two grabbed Legolas's feet and Legolas Three grabbed
Legolas's feet. Soon the four of them were hanging from the latch,
leaving Aragorns below.
Camel took this oppertunity to make his point. With a grunt and a
snort, he trotted forward a few inches. But it was enough to keep
Legolases, Third Legolas and Frodo hanging by feet and arms a good foot
above the ground.
And the latch still would not move.
"This isn't working!" Frodo groaned, his little arms growing tired.
Suddenly Treebeard walked up and he grabbed Third Legolas's boot.
Giving it a sharp tug, he pulled all four of them down and they landed
in a jumbled heap below the door.
But the latch had been pushed down. The door was unlocked!
"There, was that so hard?" Aragorn grinned. Frodo and Legolaseses (for
there were three at the moment) glared at the toy man and he grinned
sheepishly and cleared his throat. "Okay. That was fun. Let's get this
door open, shall we?"
Frodo, rubbing his back, groaned and remounted Dirk. The wee Dragon
twisted his head around and gave Frodo's cheek a little nudge. The
Hobbit grinned and patted him on the snout.
"Aravan will have to do that." Legolases said, remounting the winged
creature. Without a word being said, the little beast leapt into the
air and grabbed a hold of the handle. With a great deal of struggling
and straining and pumping of wings, Aravan managed to slid open the
door just wide enough for Brego and himself to squeeze through. He
pushed the screen door open easily with his nose, for it was unlocked.
Then Aravan leapt out of the window and soared down to the ground
below, landing upon the snow. His huge feet sank in, but he managed to
balance atop the drift.
"Okay, your turn, Frodo." Aragorn said, motioning for Frodo to continue
out. Clucking his tongue, Frodo urged Dirk towards the open door.
Taking a deep breath, he clung to Dirk's mane as the little Dragon
leapt out of the door. He landed in the snow and sank in up to his
belly. Struggling and kicking, Dirk managed to swim to a shallower
drift. Brego and Aragorn leapt out next, the horse nearly falling over
when he landed in the snow. Treebeard came after, landing face-first in
the drift and cursing slowly in Entish.
"Your turn, Legolas--"
"What?"
"OTHER Legolas." Aragorn sighed at the two Legolases. "It's your turn OTHER Legolas and Aragorn."
"We're trying, Aragorn." Legolas grunted.
Above, still at the window, Aragorn and Legolas stood behind Camel. The
camel was groaning and grunting and snapping angrily as the two toys
attempted to push him out of the window. They pushed and shoved, but
the camel WOULD NOT MOVE. Finally, growing tired of the irksome mammel,
Legolas whipped out one of his knives and poked Camel in the butt.
Crying out, Camel leapt out of the window, sending Aragorn flat on his
face. Unfortunatly for Treebeard, he did not move fast enough and Camel
landed atop of the Ent, pushing him back into the snowdrift where he
struggled and swore.
When Legolas and Aragorn finally got out of the door, Aravan flew up to
close it. Legolas and Aragorn mounted back atop a very annoyed Camel
while Treebeard muttered angrily to himself.
"There, was that so hard?" Aragorn mounted atop Brego asked.
"For YOU maybe." Third Legolas sniffed, brushing snow and camel hair off of his shirt.
"Well, let's get moving. Onward! Our journey beyond the doors has begun!"
