Dragons and Dwarves

The rain did not let up for the rest of that day, that night, or the next day. They had packed enough Manadh for a little while, but the constant rain made it impossible to light a fire.

By the time the rain finally slowed it was evening. They made camp, but it was very muddy and cold and all around miserable. Anduin was on edge, trying to catch a bit of the wind's whispering, but all was still and calm.

"Eliohad?" Anduin called. The Elf looked up and saw that the ranger was looking up at the Western sky.

"Yes?"

"What do your Elf eyes make of that?" Anduin asked, pointing to a twisting shadow in the west.

"Just some thunderhead," Higgen said, squinting at the black shape. "Isn't it?" Eliohad was silent, narrowing his eyes.

"Dragon," the Elf said suddenly. "Smaug, I believe." This gravely upset the dwarves, and they were all for packing up then and there and fleeing eastward.

"No," Anduin said firmly. "Smaug is greedy, but lazy. He will not come for us here; if he is hungry he will go to Laketown."

"You can't trust a dragon to do anything," Moin said darkly. "Or you'll end up dead for it."

"Unless you have some hidden treasure trove," Anduin said. "Then we do not need to fear the Great Lizard. Come, and let us eat."

That night Higgen slept uneasily, his dreams alive with winged wereworms that carried off the ponies. When a hand shook him awake, the hobbit started and cried out in fear.

"Easy there," Anduin said, his blue eyes concerned. "You were having a nightmare." Higgen sat up with a yawn and rubbed his eyes.

"I suppose I was," the hobbit said.

"Come on, we're just about ready to leave."

"But it's still dark!" Higgen protested.

"The sky is overcast," Anduin said. "Come."

Higgen sighed as they left the camp. He wished he was home in his hobbit hole in front of a roaring fire, with a pie in the oven.

Suddenly Phaethon reared and bucked wildly, throwing the hobbit to the ground. Shouts rang out and the air resounded with the clash of metal on metal. Thunder cracked, and Higgen desperately tried to flee Phaethon's kicking hooves. The hobbit stumbled and tripped over something. When he looked to see what it was, he gave a small cry of fright.

Anduin lay dead on the ground, his blue eyes glazed over and blood trickling from his mouth. Higgen screamed and tried to crawl away from the dead body. Something grabbed his leg, stopping him and pulling him back.

The metal fragments of the shield had come alive. They were trying to drag him back, back into a shadow that blocked out all light.

"Higgen!" A voice called, and at its sound the metal released him and the shadow dissolved. "Higgen, wake up!"

The hobbit's eyes opened wide, and stared at Phaethon's rain drenched mane.

"You were having another nightmare," Anduin said.

"You were dead!" Higgen babbled wildly. "And then the metal came to life and it tried to kill me..."

"It was just a dream, Higgen," the ranger shushed him. "A bad dream."

"It seemed so very real," the hobbit said, burying his head in Anduin's cloak.

"It wasn't. See, I'm fine!" Anduin said soothingly, patting the hobbit's curls smooth. "It's over now." Higgen inhaled a shaky breath and looked around at their surroundings. The River Carnen still flowed alongside them, rolling down to the distant Sea. But now up ahead there were some tall hills, iron grey in the shadow of the clouds.

"The Iron Hills," Anduin answered when Higgen asked about them. "We will go there on our way north."

As they approached the bases of the slate-colored hills, Anduin became more and more uneasy. Higgen could feel the ranger tensing behind him and could see the knuckles of his hands go white as they held the reins.

"Is something wrong?" Higgen asked nervously.

"Someone is watching us," Anduin said. "Or something." Phaethon fidgeted and pawed the ground worriedly. "What's up boy? You feel something too?" The horse whinnied softly, and tossed his long red mane.

Phaethon began to turn in tight circles, first one way and then another, worrying the ground with his nose. Suddenly he snapped his head up and his ears flicked forward. Phaethon let out a wild trumpet of a neigh and reared up, kicking the air with his feet.

Remembering his nightmare, Higgen clung to the pommel of the saddle as Phaethon repeatedly put his feet down and then reared.

"DRAGON!" Anduin yelled. A giant red dragon was twisting through the air, headed straight for their company. "Flee! Flee into the hills!" Anduin shouted, jerking Phaethon's head and kicking him forward. The stallion turned and bolted in between two of the hills, the other horses and ponies not far behind.

The sky behind them was lit with an orange flame. The horses, the whites of their eyes wide with terror, sped up. They wove in among the hills, galloping along their bases.

"In here!" A voice cried and a door in a hillside opened wide. Anduin turned towards it and Phaethon shot through into the passage beyond. "Hurry!" A gruff voice urged them. Hoofbeats filled the passage as the other horses and ponies followed Phaethon.

There came a sound a door slamming and the light from outside was completely cut off.

"This way!" the voice said from the darkness. A flicker of flame and a torch flared to life in the cavern. It was held by a dwarf wearing chain mail with small gold pieces braided in his beard.

The dwarf led them further along the passage, which sloped steadily downward. The ceiling of the cavern also sloped downwards, so that Anduin had to duck his head.

"Hurry!" the dwarf said, running forward with his torch. Phaethon followed at a trot, still trembling from his encounter with the dragon. Just when it seemed that Anduin would have to get down and walk after all, the tunnel opened into a large room.

It was a smithy; a fire fed by a large bellows, an anvil, and pieces of unfinished armor lining the walls.

"Further in!" The dwarf insisted, pointing into yet another tunnel that branched out from this cave. Anduin dismounted and followed, leading Phaethon beside him. Higgen was short enough that he could stay sitting on the pony's back.

"Faster!" The dwarf called over his shoulder. The entire company quickened their pace, alerted by their rescuer's urgency. "Not far now!"

His torch was the only light in this dark, underground passage. They went downwards still, into the depths of the earth.

Without warning a blinding burst of fire came up behind them. The horses at the back of the company shrieked and skittered. Higgen was startled at first, but soon he saw that the fire was not in the passage. The dwarf had led them far enough into the tunnel that the blast could not reach even the last pony in their line.

"Come," the dwarf said, laying a hand on Anduin's arm. "Farther in, farther down." Anduin glanced once more down the tunnel, where the fiery blast had died down into a dimly glowing ember.

"Smaug doesn't usually come here," the dwarf said. Higgen started, for it was the most the dwarf had spoken yet. "Doesn't like to leave his treasure. But we know what to do when he comes hunting, yes. Not like you. Need to get inside the earth, into the heart of Aule. Dragons can't come here."

"My thanks, ai' atar, for saving us," (Little Father), Anduin said. "I am called Labadal."

"Elf name," the dwarf grunted in response. The dwarf glanced backwards where Gwindor walked, leading his horse. "Never saved Elves before. Name's Poika."

"Do you live alone, Master Poika?" Anduin asked.

"Just Poika. Not Master," the dwarf grumbled. "No."

"Sorry?" Anduin asked. Higgen was glad he was not the only one having difficulty understanding the dwarf.

"Not alone," Poika repeated. "Others here. Turn here." Abruptly the dwarf turned down another passage. It was a sharp turn, and Phaethon did not want to twist around.

"What's wrong?" Poika's head poked back out of the passage.

"He's just being stubborn," Anduin said. "Tula sinome. Cordof!" (Come here. Apple!) Phaethon's ears flicked forward and he entered the tunnel eagerly, snuffling Anduin's hand for the promised treat. "Later, boy," Anduin assured him, patting his nose.

"Talks to the horse," Poika said. "Not normal."

"Lead on, Poika," Anduin told the dwarf.

"Lead where?" Poika asked. "We're here." With that he raised his torch and lit a torch that was in a bracket in the wall. The dwarf went around the room, lighting other torches, and their light revealed a vast cavern. "The Inner Hall," Poika announced.

It was a stone chamber, carved in the hill itself. A long table ran down the middle of it, enough for some fifty Men to feast comfortably. A large stone fireplace was carved into the far wall and various swords, spears, pikes, and axes were hung along the wall.

"Stay here," Poika said. Then the dwarf disappeared, probably into one of the many tunnels that led off of the cavern.

"Will do," Anduin said, lifting Higgen from Phaethon's back. "I had no idea dwarves lived in the Iron Hills, did you Moin?"

"Some came here fleeing Smaug," Moin replied. "But I didn't know they had dug such elaborate dwellings."

They remained in the Inner Hall for a long while, Higgen wasn't sure how long because there was no way to measure the sun's progress across the sky. Poika did not return, nor did they see anyone else. But at last a light shone from one of the tunnels and a dwarf appeared behind it. It was not Poika, but a rather older dwarf with a long grey beard with a variety of gold bits and bobs plaited in.

"Moin!" The newcomer bellowed. "Good to see you laddie!"

"Dilkoin!" Moin called back, running to embrace the dwarf.

"What were you doing out with a band of Elves? Running from Smaug I hear!" Dilkoin asked, pounding Moin on the back.

"Come Dilkoin, there's someone I want you to meet!" Moin said, pulling the dwarf over to Anduin. "This is my traveling companion, Anduin son of Alenor." Anduin winced ever so slightly as Moin said his correct name. Dilkoin shook Anduin's hand in his massive, leathery one.

"I'm Dilkoin son of Gloin son of Glan," the dwarf said.

"So that would make you Moin's...?" Anduin asked, smiling crookedly.

"Uncle!" Dilkoin said proudly. "And leader of this colony."

"Thank you for allowing us to rest here," Anduin said politely.

"Stay for dinner!" Dilkoin insisted. "The horses can be stabled and we'll get a proper meal in all of you."

"That is very kind of you," the ranger replied. Dilkoin clapped his hands and eighteen dwarves emerged from the shadows of various passages. They took away the horses and ponies before Anduin could say so much as a word. Other dwarves came in bearing plates of roast meat, thick bread, and mugs of malt beer.

"The hospitality of the dwarves is famous!" Dilkoin said as the dwarves began to set the supper on the long table. The fireplace soon had a roaring fire and the company were all seated at the long table.

Dwarves served them all quickly and fairly quietly, pouring drinks and placing loaded plates in front of each member of their company. Dilkoin sat at the head of the table, presiding over it all.

"Diedre, top off the gentleman's drink! Haffid, give Anduin the choicest meat, there's a good dwarf. Achad, give the little one some butter with that bread!" A dwarf scurried over the Higgen and reached over him to put a plate of butter on the table at his elbow.

This dwarf's beard, along with many of the other servers', was shorter than other dwarves'. Higgen caught the soft brown eyes that peered at him from under thick eyebrows and gave a small gasp of recognition. It was a woman.

All of the dwarf servers with the shorter beards were women! The hobbit was so shocked at his discovery, not to mention slightly unnerved, that he didn't notice Anduin's conversation with Dilkoin.

"... North you say?" the dwarf asked, taking a long drink of mead. "With winter coming on? You're mad, laddie!"

"So I've been told," Anduin said, smiling into his own cup. "But be that as it may...?"

"I guess you can't dissuade the mad from anything," Dilkoin sighed, as though greatly sorrowed to say this. "But I'd say, if you have your heart set on it, that you go up around the mountains. Don't want to get stuck in a pass in the middle of a blizzard!"

"Would you go north of the mountains, or south?" Anduin asked.

"Neither!" Dilkion boomed. "But I guess that's not the answer you're looking for. North is the best way, in my opinion. In the north you've got the weather, but south of those mountains is swarming with goblins!"

"Have you heard of any wasteland north of the mountains? Any unexplainable famines, or deserts?" the ranger asked curiously.

"Laddie, everything north of those mountains is a wasteland!"

"But have you heard of anything in particular?"

"No one comes to the Iron Hills," Dilkoin said, suddenly serious. "Our treasure is iron, not gold and so none come here. But if I'd heard of any news from the north, I'd tell you."

"Thank you, my friend," Anduin said. The fire in the hearth was whipped from side to side, and a strange howling filled the Inner Hall, causing Higgen to jump.

"It's all right," Dilkoin told the hobbit. "Chimney makes that noise when the wind blows."

"Is there some way I could get outside?" Anduin asked hopefully.

"Aye, Smaug's long gone," Dilkoin said. "I'll have Poika show you the way. Oi, Poika!" The dwarf appeared at Dilkoin's elbow. "Show our guest to the rooftop," the dwarf told him. Poika bowed and gestured for Anduin to follow him.

The Man was gone for a long time, and he returned only when the feasting was done and bedrolls had been laid out for the company.

"What does the wind say?" Eliohad asked as Anduin re-entered. The ranger bowed to Poika who turned and left without a word.

"A lot more than that dwarf," Anduin replied, settling down on his bedroll with a groan. "She's bringing the snow soon; that makes her happy."

"Did she tell you anything of what lies north of the mountains?" the Elf asked.

"I asked her about that," Anduin said. "But she doesn't want to talk about what she's seen there. She wanted to play. But eventually she told me something."

"What did she say?" Higgen asked, resting his chin in the cup of his hand.

"Gundabad. That's all she would say," the ranger shrugged. "Gundabad. She whispered it at first, but when I didn't understand she became upset. She howled and screamed and pulled me around. 'Gundabad!' she wailed. 'Gundabad!' And then, suddenly, she was gone."