Ever wondered where the Dwarves' fear go off to? Celegorm uses the degrading term Naugrim (Stunted people) to refer to the Dwarves out of habit.
4. Halls of the Dwarrow
As we progressed in the general direction pointed out to us by the lunatic elf, I noticed a subtle change in our surroundings. The thickets of petrified trees gave way to columns carved as tree trunks. I was reminded of Menegroth's carved halls. The lichens beneath our feet gave way to tiles. It was getting warmer. Huan whined uneasily.
"Heigh-ho! Heigh-ho!"
Snatches of song reached us but they were not the fair voices of the Eldar. Instead, they were the gravelly tones of the Naugrim. There also came the rhythmic striking of metal on metal or rock. I was immediately transported to my childhood memories of Atto's forge.
I never liked it there. It was too dark and too hot. Atto would spend hours there working over the anvil, sweat glistening on his brow and back by the light of the furnace. To my young eyes, the furnace was a terrifying beast belching fire. One of my first chores was to feed the fire. Atto often had to remind me to toss in the wood or work the bellows to keep the fire at the right temperature. I hated it.
A tiny misshapen creature ran past us, closely followed by a flying hammer and an angry shout. My atto had smacked me hard once when I neglected to heed his order to feed the fire. The piece he had been working on was quite ruined, so I understood. After that, I had refused to set foot in that forge again.
Lamps hung from the cavern roof, bathing all in their smoky light. All around, Naugrim toiled over their anvils or mined the walls for ore. The only Naugrim not involved in some form of labour were like the small creature that passed us earlier, scurrying about the cavern and avoiding ill-tempered curses and the occasional tool hurled their way.
Khuzdul. Somehow I understood that those strange words were of the Naugrim's tongue. The twins must have sensed it too for they clung onto each other. Moryo had an understanding of sorts with the Naugrim who traded with him but the rest of us had little dealings with them. Finrod was said to be a friend of the people. Given their reputation as steadfast friends, I hoped they have not heard about our part in Finrod's demise.
I never had any desire to learn Khuzdul or of the Naugrim, thinking it below me. Finrod was said to be fluent enough to converse in Khuzdul. Most dwarves were also fluent in Sindarin or the Edain tongue. However, I always found them aloof.
One of the Naugrim came pottering over pushing before him a barrow of turnips. I was surprised to see he wore a skirt as if he were a fishwife. He glanced over in our direction and let out a gasp. He shouted something in his tongue and immediately all the bustle and activity ground to a halt.
"Why have you come here?" an ancient dwarf came forth. His beard was long and white. "These are not your Halls…" His Sindarin was heavily accented.
"We are lost," I tried to sound contrite and humble. We were massively outnumbered and I did not fancy our chances with those hammers and pickaxes, even if we are dead. If he could see me, Curufin would have probably sneered at me, having to stoop and scrape before a dwarf.
"You brought young ones…"
A murmur ran through the assembly of Dwarves. The twins had dismounted and Huan placed himself defensively before them. My hound never liked the Naugrim. He snapped at a petty-dwarf who got too close, sending the creature shrieking into the shadows.
"This must be Huan the elf-hound. Celegorm the Cruel, we have heard much of you," the ancient dwarf stroked his beard. "Yet these young ones are not your kin…"
A dwarf with a fiery red beard gestured fiercely to the old dwarf. The older dwarf gestured back. The sign-language of the Naugrim. Finrod had mentioned it in passing once. The signing continued with several other dwarves joining in with the occasional word of Khuzdul. Finally, the ancient dwarf spoke.
"Enough! We cannot turn away young ones. I, Durin Dwarf-father, decreed that the children of Dior and their companions be given shelter in our halls, until such time as which it is for them to rejoin their kindred."
His words were met with considerable protest but he held up his hand for silence. "The Seven have decided."
"Mim no want them nasty things here! Sneaky nasty things!" a petty-dwarf squealed and was promptly booted across the floor by a dwarf standing behind him. Durin ignored the commotion and continued.
"Of course, they will be expected to pay for their food and board…"
"Will this be enough?" I slipped off my gem-studded silver arm ring. It had been a gift from Curufin back in Valinor. I would miss it. Durin only chortled.
"Save your pretty trinkets for yourself, Elf. We have little need of them here. What we want are your strong back and arms, in exchange for a place at the table and by the fire."
I whirled round just in time to catch a pickaxe hurled my way. I winced at the thought of it punching a hole in my back had my reflexes been slower. Huan allowed himself to be laden with two baskets like a mule. The children started clamouring for their own tools but Durin only smiled.
"They are too young for such labour," he waved to the skirt-wearing dwarf. It was then I realized that he was actually a she. We had thought of all Naugrim as male. Their females were every bit as uncomely as their menfolk.
"You come with me," she ushered both elflings away. The Elurussa squirmed and tried to flee but she had a firm grip on both their arms.
"It's alright!" I called after them before the trio vanished down a side cavern.
We were taken to a dimly-lit tunnel where I saw the dark gleam of an exposed coal seam at which a party of dwarves toiled at. I stripped to my breeches, carefully putting aside my garments and finery before setting to work. Coal was the fuel of choice for the Naugrim and Finrod had used it in his city when firewood grew scarce. Curufin claimed the heat generated from such coal furnaces were greater than the wood-fired ones in Atto's forge.
I hacked lumps of coal from the rock face. The coal dust got everywhere, into my hair, eyes and even into my lungs. Thankfully, my wounds from the Siege had apparently healed during our trek through the forest. The thought of coal getting into my wounds was highly unpleasant. Huan stayed with me, making the trip out of the tunnel when his baskets were filled and returning as soon as they were emptied. My arms were soon aching from the effort.
"Can we help?" a tiny voice piped. I wiped sweat off my brow. The Elurussa. The pair held small wicker baskets full of coal lumps they had picked off the floor. On their backs were bulging water-skins.
"Did you miss me?" I grinned. I must look a sight with my coal-blackened face and skin.
"No, we missed Huan," Elurin grinned impishly and I laughed.
A shrill whistle sounded and as one the miners lay down their tools. It was time for supper. Strange, but I felt ravenous. Somehow in these halls, we could feel thirst, hunger and weariness. I took a water-skin from Elured to quench my parched throat. One of the miners slapped me on the back and I coughed up coal-blackened water.
"Don't waste yer time wi' that. There's beer a-waiting."
We washed the best we could in the icy waters of an underground spring before joining the feast. Durin was there, overseeing the distribution of beer and other victuals. Dwarves, male and female, sat at low long tables, or around beer kegs and bubbling stew pots. I would never fit at the low table with my long limbs. Moreover, I had no desire to make conversation with them, so I took my bowl of stew and a hunk of bread and sat in a corner. Huan gnawed on an ox-bone at my feet. The twins joined us with their own bowls of stew and hunks of bread.
The twins were enjoying themselves immensely. The Naugrim treated them kindly, plying them with choice sweetmeats from the table and stroking their soft tresses, which must be unlike the hair of any dwarf. When one of the petty-dwarves decided to yank Elured's hair, he was rapidly set upon by an angry mob as soon as Elured started shrieking in pain. Elured was comforted by a large Dwarrowdam and given a clever clockwork bird to cheer him up. He now showed off the bird to Huan and his twin. I bet Curufin could have crafted a more elegant bird.
Durin hobbled over to join us. "The gifts of Mahal," he nodded at the dining dwarves. "Straight from the gardens of his lady." Mahal. Aule. A faint sliver of hope bubbled up inside me. Finrod had mentioned once that the Naugrim worshiped their Maker Mahal, also known to the Eldar as Lord Aule.
"Master Dwarf, does Mahal come to these halls?"
"Nay, he would only come when Arda is to be remade."
"Do you know the way back to where our kindred are?"
"Nay, I only know beyond these halls is the forest – strange place, strange sights and sounds – we don't leave here much," Durin started to hobble away.
The twins were now sated and drowsing against me and Huan. I cannot follow the old dwarf without rousing them. I have no intention of toiling here in the mines with the Naugrim until Arda breaks. Perhaps I could leave the Elurussa and Huan here. The Naugrim seemed very taken with the pair. I have yet to see a Dwarfling here or in Beleriand. Perhaps children are a rarity for their race. The Elurussa will be well cared for.
"Oh, Master Elf, there is a place deep in our halls where one might seek answers to questions," the old dwarf paused in mid-step. "There is risk to one so easily swayed like your kindred. However, if you are strong enough, you might look into it and find that you seek."
"Have you looked into it?"
"Been there, done that, at the other side of the sea. Founded a Mansion…" Durin plodded off and his words trailed away. I was more exhausted than I thought. My eyelids were heavy, so very heavy… Damn this Dwarven beer…
Author's Notes:
Yeah, the petty dwarves still get the short end of the stick in the afterlife. I have included Mim and Durin the Deathless in this chapter.
I imagined the Dwarven version of the afterlife a little like the Norse version, except instead of hunting, they are working at their forges and mines but the nightly feasting and drinking party remains. Dwarves are tough by nature and very protective of their young. Hence there are few Dwarflings in the afterlife as they are given the best chances of reaching maturity with protective family and hidden underground cities. They don't work or go abroad until they come of age.