To Rûndis, my moonlight,
I am growing weary of this place. The darkness gnaws at my soul, and the constant watch drains my spirits. I had not realised how much this place was affecting me until we reached the great mirror of Jazârgund, and I bathed in its light.
It was just as I was pondering these thoughts that Eldanith arrived. Garfi was the first to notice her presence.
“Good morning, Strongheart, Garfi” the elf greeted.
“Ah! Eldanith! Good morning” I responded. “Apologies, I was lost in thought.”
“In light of things happening, that is understandable” She stopped for a second, basking in the light. She was quite adept at irony. “You're enjoying a bit of sunlight, if reflected only?”
“That I am” I answered. “It will be hard to leave this place. This quite literal beacon of light is a rare occurrence in Moria.”
Two very familiar dwarves hobbled towards me. One walked quietly, the other clumsily yet firmly at the same time. His greeting was the loudest, and hers the quietest. Kharsi was looking much better, but still had not fully healed.
We continued discussing the glory of Khazad-Dûm, and how the Orcs had ruined most of it to its current state. Kharsi vowed to see the Halls reclaimed, and I raised my axe to his words. Atgar joined us shortly after, and prepared some breakfast for us — some cave-claw meatballs, as he had named them. They were surprisingly good, considering what they were made of, but I would not eat them again had I any choice.
Zirnr also found a new friend! A deep-claw pup followed him around. Braudin had his reservations about this new expeditioneer, but the rest accepted him quickly. Rompli was especially enthusiastic, although he insisted it was not out of softness but because of the great deal of honour he could sense coming from our new friend. It was truly endearing.
Ronhus arrived shortly after, wearing his newly shined armour. He looked like one of the Dwarven warriors of old, ready to claim back our home. “Like Durin himself” as Rompli put it. Bradati and Elewaru followed him, eager to vanquish our foes and cleanse the Halls of goblin filth.
Finally, once the others arrived, Kharsi shared our plan for the day. Narali looked at me with sad eyes, and asked if we truly had to leave. Sadly, we did, and she reluctantly agreed.
We would set out for the Second Hall. Elewaru spotted heavy goblin activity around the area, they seemed to be searching for something. There was a mark on our copies of the map that pointed towards somewhere there, so we figured it was our best shot. We made two very important points — no one was ever to travel alone, and Kharsi would take it easy. We could not risked being attacked by our stalker again, and Kharsi was still not fully recovered from his wounds. “Do not go near wells”, added Bog, and Rompli blushed.
I am seeing much growth in Kharsi. He has lost most of his recklessness, while still being fearsome. He has learnt to listen — and has even started using big words! He said “entrenched”, and in the right context, too! I am very proud of him.
Anyway, our ride was short, and mostly uneventful. We did spot some goblins along the way, but some careful manoeuvering allowed us to give them the split.
Trees of Stone, holding up the mountain. Crystals shining as gleaming gems meshed in silver, the greatest Hall of Khazad-Dûm. We had arrived at the Second Hall. I had to prevent Rompli and Kharsi from bursting out sing song, as awe-inspiring the sights were. We were counting on surprising the goblins, which proved to be the right course of action. “I have no credit. One can hear you fooling around for miles” confessed a surprised Eldanith. We managed to lay low for a few moments, but it quickly became clear that if we ever were to find what they were looking for it would not be enough. We rushed at their position, making quick work of them before they could raise the alarm, which allowed us to make our own search. Being considerably less inept than the goblins, it did not take us long.
Elewaru was the first to spot it. “There’s a door over there!” she exclaimed.
We quickly approached it. Before us lay an ancient door, carved into the stone itself. The passage of years had left a clear mark on it, but it was still in surprisingly good shape. Opening it, however, was a different matter altogether.
No matter how we tried, it just wouldn’t budge. We tried pulling on it with all the strength we could muster, pushing it with just as much effort, but nothing happened. Rompli even tried hacking it to pieces with his axes, and Bog punched it with all his might. “Mellon!” yelled Balnirar. Nothing seemed to work.
Narali remained quiet, at the back. I could not bring myself to fully take my eyes off her, fearing her mind being taken over by foreign whispers again. It seemed to happen around big spaces, and the Second Hall is as big as they come. My fears came true, though not exactly how I expected. Looking towards the door, she finally approached. She placed her hand upon it, closed her eyes, and nodded. With a puzzled expression, she began to speak.
“Narâg-bund…”
Suddenly the door started to glow. It revealed writing on it, not all that unlike moon-letters.
“Narali got it!” celebrated Kharsi.
I looked at Narali, and her expression revealed all that I needed to know. As is sadly the case with most Stout-Axes, she does not know Khuzdul. The Chamber’s name, Narâg-bund, Ember-deep, had been revealed to her by the Dwarves of old, speaking to her through the stone.
We turned our attention towards the Door once more. The writing said, in Khuzdul, as follows:
“I can roar with no mouth,
I can dance with no legs.
Iron bends to my will,
yet my touch it soon forgets.”
“Riddles in the dark…” wondered Rompli. “Where have I heard that before...”
I translated them for the others, while ensuring Elewaru and Eldanith did not see the original Khuzdul. I did not need to, however, since they were true Friends of the Dwarves.
“A forge!”, said Zirnr. It does roar, but it does not dance.
“Or simply Fire?”, suggested Elewaru. That one did fit… But the door did not budge. We would need to say it in Khuzdul for it to react. After taking the necessary precautions, we did just that, and the door lit up again. It revealed a keyhole under the riddle we had just solved, and revealed another.
“I hold the Moon, the Stars, the Sky;
I am the one who gives you life.
I walk the earth and carve my path,
and all who know me fear my wrath.”
We did as we had for the first, and we again got to solving it. “I know, I know!” yelled Kharsi excitedly. He thought for a second. “Uhhh… I don’t know” he declared.
“Air!” proposed Balnirar. “Water!”, Bog suggested. They were both good guesses.
Kharsi, oblivious to our thinking, had rushed towards the door. He was quickly whispering every word he could think of. I asked him to focus, and to try air and water. “Air” he whispered — in Khuzdul, of course — but nothing came of it. He leaned in, and whispered “Fire”, lighting the keyhole once again. After asking him to focus, he finally tried “Water”. A second keyhole was revealed, and the whole door began to shine even more brightly.
Kharsi smiled, and pulled out a copy of the map. He laid it over his own map of Moria. “Look!” he exclaimed victorious. “A marker in the Waterworks! That’s water!”
I smiled at him, patting his back. “Good work, Kharsi! But what about fire?”
He frowned. “That is not that clear…” he thought for a moment. “There are no markers in the Flaming Deeps, which is where I expected it to be following the logic for Water… Perhaps the Redhorn Lodes? There are a few there.”
My smile faded. It looked like we were on our way to solve this puzzle, but now I was not so sure. I consulted with the others, and, considering we did not really have any other leads, we decided to leave for the Orc-Watch. The journey there would be perilous, but we were many, and we were strong.
I will not get into the details of the horrors we had to fight to arrive there. We slayed many an Orc, and strange, gargantuan spiders that stalked us. Even the biggest Deep-Claw I have ever seen! But they were no match for us. Kharsi, true to his word, stayed in the back, under the watchful eye of Narali.
I will, however, tell you about a strange finding near the door to the Chamber. Moments before getting on our goats, Kharsi sniffed an unfamiliar odour. He led us towards it, making good use of his nose, and the closer we got the more insufferable it became.
At the end of this foul trail we found the most pestilent of mushrooms, a cruel and fatal assault on one’s nostrils. I could not fathom what it was that we had just found, but I could understand even less how Bog jumped down in enthusiasm to take a closer look at it. He even took a sample to take with him!
“I think I’ve seen these things deeper down” he claimed.
“What things?” I asked. “Mushrooms?”
“Aye!” he insisted. “In the deepest, darkest parts.” We kindly rejected his offer to get more samples for the rest of us.
We arrived at the Orc-Watch exhausted from our journey. I had barely the energy for our usual bickering, and I sat down to rest. Atgar was kind enough to cook us some dinner — pork! I had missed it badly, and was thankful for not having to taste Deep-claw again. Garfi fell asleep shortly after declaring it was “time to hit the sack”, and I saw Kharsi walk away with Braudin, deep in conversation, while most of the others were discussing our findings. Eldanith was nowhere to be seen, and Narali looked distressed. Believing herself to be unseen –as far as I could tell —, she got up and walked away. I followed.
“Narali? Is everything alright?” I asked, concerned. She simply hugged me, and I hugged her back.
“We could not have done this without you today” I said. “Your mother’s gift is a precious one.”
I ruffled her hair. “You know you can talk to me, right?” I asked her. She did not respond, and went to sleep.
What am I doing wrong, my Rûndis? I know Narali hurts, but I do not know how to get through to her. Does she think differently of me after seeing me succumb to hatred? Does she think I am not the same Dwarf that found her in the mountains, that I am now simply a cold-blooded killer, a brute who revels in violence?
I wish you could answer, for I am sure you would know what to do.
Miss you,
your Thrarfi.
