PART FOUR: Letters From Within
My Beloved Lord,
What wonders lie within the bounds of Moria is no more the mystery to my wide eyes as I travel the tunnels and walk the vast, deserted halls with footsteps that make no sound. Even my heart is hushed upon its beats in this place that houses many a foul creature who lurks and preys within the shadows. Most are afraid of us and we hear only their scurrying ahead of my Naugrim host that does persist to move ever forward, delving deeper and deeper underground, establishing twilight camps and trade routes in their persistence, for they mean to reclaim this buried treasure, and I go with them!
I must honour my name and my race, as best I can and so I utter no complaint and even sing them a song to merry our decent. How long it will be before I glimpse the night sky or witness the rise and fall of Anor once more, I cannot say. I think I should see the naked heart of this subterranean world before I feel the grass beneath my bare feet again, yet the glistening blackened walls are bejewelled in pale imitation of Elbereth’s twinkling lamps, whilst my shadow dances beneath flickering lanterns that we light along our way. Their light does shower me with eagerness alike the first rays of a morning sun, their meagre warmth a fake reminder of the perfect dusk. Lo, too long has the sun been gone from the sky in my eyes.
What possesses the Naugrim race to wish this living burial is beyond me! Do they not miss the crisp air upon the mountain side that tickles our tongues with each intake of smoking breath? Do they not know the utterly quiet beauty of a clear night sky reflected in a mirrored lake? Do they not want to throw a snowball at an unsuspecting loved one or be merrily chased through a flowered meadow laughing so much that our lungs near give up! I feel the mountain sink down upon me with its burden, perhaps a distance as equal in depth as the length of the Straight Road that does part you from me.
I write you in the vague hope that you will receive my tiny packages of words, pushed up from the depths of a grim mountain to trample across rolling hills and float upon wide oceans before my neatly folded letters may be cupped in your hands. What a journey and a story to tell, if only my words had a voice of their own! I can only wonder, and pray for the safe arrival of each and every letter as I put my solemn trust in the links of a long chain that does begin with a goat! Regularly, we send those un-feeling beasts upwards to trek back along our path, as the necessity to search ever deeper into the mountain does require a continuance of supplies, although I never expected to be thanking the Valar for goats!
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PART FOUR: Letters From Within
Submitted by Tynuilos on March 2nd, 2010
