Legolas trudged up the almost endless stairway, his footsteps unusually heavy for his kind. But how can I not feel so weary if this darkness is all around me? Being an Elf and thus a Creature of the Light, he hated the darkness as much as Orcs and goblins despised the light of the sun. He did not fear the night; for during the evening there was at least the light of the stars to comfort him. But here, in the total darkness of the Mines of Moria, he did not feel so at ease.
They meandered their way through the dark tunnels, the only source of light coming from Gandalf's staff. The Wizard walked in the lead, and beside him went Gimli the Dwarf. Just behind him was Frodo, with his sword Sting drawn. Behind Frodo followed Merry, Sam and Pippin, and they too had their swords drawn. Camille and Eli followed them, but they didn't seem to be bothering with their weapons yet. Legolas walked behind them, and just behind him was Boromir. The last of the Company was Aragorn, grim and silent like always.
Suddenly, Gandalf halted, and with him halted the rest of the Fellowship. They were now standing in a hallway with three different doors branching out of it. Legolas turned to Gandalf expectantly, hoping that this was just a brief pause as the Wizard tried to remember the right way to go.
However, his hopes were dashed when Gandalf announced, "I have no memory of this place at all!"
Camille sighed wearily, and dropped her pack to the floor. "Okay, since it seems that you're going to need a little time in deciding, why don't we all take a rest here for the meantime? All that climbing has made my feet horribly sore."
Eli snorted in agreement as she plopped down on a nearby ledge. "Tell me about it. I bet that I've got a dozen bruises on my feet." She groaned, and rubbed the calf of her leg. "All that climbing has made my legs sore…damn Dwarves… Haven't they heard of escalators? Or even elevators?"
In the meantime, Gandalf's staff illuminated the rest of the room. There was a huge hole in the middle of the room, and looked like a well.
"This must have been a guardroom," Gandalf muttered, "made for the watching of the three doors." He sighed wearily. "But I am too tired to decide which way to go. I think that we can rest here for the meantime. But have a care and keep away from the well!"
Everyone, the Hobbits in particular, let out a sigh of relief. Legolas helped the others unload their things, set up a small camp of sorts. Fortunately, Gandalf allowed them a small fire for their comfort. In moments the smell of food cooking filled the air, and made the dark cavern seem a little more cheerful.
Legolas walked up to Camille, watching as she slid her feet out of her boots. She rubbed them slowly, particularly around the ankles and toes, pointing and bending them to relieve some of the pressure that had built up in them from all the walking. He couldn't help but notice just how small her feet were. They were slim and delicately shaped, like those of a dancer's. He approached her, and sat down beside her. ^Are you alright, Eriol?^
Camille sighed wearily, but nodded. "Yeah, I'm okay."
"That is good." Legolas turned away from her, and instead, focused on the three dark passages that lay ahead of them. I hope that Gandalf can find the right passage soon…
Camille suddenly spoke then. "You don't look too good, Legolas. Is something bothering you?"
The Elf turned to her, and smiled apologetically. "Unfortunately, yes, there is." He raised his hand up slightly towards the darkness that lay before them. "I do not feel comfortable with this darkness. Elves are Creatures of Light, as you may remember, and we are not used to the total darkness in caves. Aside from that, the close confines of these Mines also make me feel uncomfortable. I am a Wood Elf; I am used to the open meadows and glades of a forest, not the restrictions of a tunnel."
The girl beside him laughed softly. "I understand how you feel. I've been afraid of the dark since I was a little girl, and it's a fear I carry up to now. The dark passages almost made me freak out; if it hadn't been for the fact that Gandalf's staff could light up, I wouldn't have set foot in this place. But as for a fear of confined spaces…I don't have that, fortunately. As long as there's a light, I can walk through even the narrowest cave or mine shaft there is." She grinned at him. "In our world, people actually go into caves for the sake of adventure. We call that hobby 'spelunking'."
"Is that not dangerous?" Legolas asked, finding it rather absurd that anyone would willingly go into a cave.
"That's what makes it so fun. In our world, everything's peaceful. Except for a few countries, most international differences are easily solved through diplomacy. And whenever agreements cannot be reached, trade embargoes are often implemented instead of all-out war. Because of this, there is a SEVERE lack of things for adventurous people to do. So they resort to doing other things, like exploring the deepest depths of the oceans, or searching old ruins hidden within the deserts or rainforests, or, like I said, going into the earth through a cave." Camille shrugged. "Most people will do anything for an adrenaline rush."
PLUNK!!!!
The Fellowship was startled almost out of their skins. Legolas jumped, and beside him, Camille uttered a loud gasp. "What was that?!"
Pippin's soft stammering came from the well. "I-It was I. I…I dropped a stone into the well…"
That response made the Company's hearts a little lighter, but Gandalf was irritated to no end. "Fool of a Took!" the Wizard growled. "This is a serious journey, not a Hobbit walking-party. Throw yourself in next time, and then you will be no further nuisance. Now be quiet!"
For several minutes there was indeed silence, but then from out of the bottom of the well came faint knocks, like that of a hammer striking an anvil.
"That is a hammer, or I have never heard one," Gimli muttered, confirming what the others were thinking.
"Yes," said Gandalf, "and I do not like it. It may have nothing to do with Pippin's foolish stone; but probably something has been disturbed that would have better been left quiet. Pray, do nothing of the kind again! Let us hope we shall get some rest without further trouble. You, Pippin, can go on the first watch, as a reward," he growled as he rolled himself in a blanket.
Eli spoke up then. "That wasn't really nice Gandalf. Pippin didn't really mean it."
The Wizard snorted, but didn't say anything more.
Aragorn set about to lowering the fire, and then pulled a blanket around himself, preparing to go to sleep. "Never cross a Wizard Eli, especially if that Wizard is Gandalf the Gray. What he says is final, and not even I dare to defy his words."
Legolas could see Eli's annoyed expression by the dimmed firelight. After a while, the girl stood up, and walked over to the path they had come by, and stood in front of it, as still as a statue. For a while, she did nothing, but then, he felt the soft flowing of wind throughout the area, making the flames shiver and dance. In the meantime, Eli glowed with a soft white light that illuminated the darkness around her momentarily, making the shadows flee. Her lips moved to form words, "Shield of Holy Wind." Her aura brightened for a moment, and then spread outwards over their camp, forming a dome of energy around them all.
Camille smiled at her. "Taking the necessary precautions, I see."
Eli nodded as she walked over to her portion of the wall to sleep. "I know. I don't want to risk anything. I might feel sorry for Pippin, but I don't feel safe with HIM on watch."
Camille snorted over her barely suppressed laughter, and turned over, lying on her side as she pulled her blanket over her body.
Legolas sighed, knowing that it was probably best to simply try and get some rest. Leaning his back against a pillar, he slowly slipped into the land of Elvish dreams, his eyes open, but his mind was lost in his dreams.
* * *
Camille had around six hours of blessed sleep before she felt herself being shaken awake by Boromir. Apparently, Gandalf had finally made a decision as to which of the three doors they should take, and he had decided that the should take the right-hand door.
Gandalf smiled rather cheerily at Camille when she asked him how he had come to that decision. "I do not like the feel of the middle way; and I do not like the smell of the left-hand way: there is foul air down there, or I am no guide."
Eli snickered as they began to walk through the right-hand passage, and felt the ground beneath them steadily rise upwards. "Hey Camille, you think that Gandalf can beat a bloodhound?"
Camille giggled at the comparison of the Wizard with a dog. "Maybe. After all, Gandalf can talk, and he can use magic. How many bloodhounds you know can do that?"
They slowly began to climb ever upwards, and as they did so, the air became less stuffy and a little cooler. There were no other side passages or doors, so they simply walked straight ahead, following the light of Gandalf's staff as it bobbed up and down in front of them like a will o' the wisp.
After walking for hours, the walls left and right suddenly vanished. Camille groped in the open air, for she had been trailing her fingers along the walls for comfort. "Hey, what happened to the walls?!"
Gandalf sounded pleased with himself. "I have chosen the right way. At last, we are coming to habitable parts, and I guess that we are not far now from the eastern side. But we are high up, a good deal higher than the Dimrill Gate, unless I am mistaken. From the feeling of the air we must be in a wide hall. I will now risk a little real light."
There was a flash from Gandalf's staff, and for a moment the entire space around them was illuminated. Camille looked up, and felt her jaw slacken in amazement. A roof rose high above their heads, held up by innumerable pillars made out of the stone itself. Before them and around them stretched a huge empty hall, with black walls of stone that glittered and flashed in the temporary blaze of light that shone from Gandalf's staff. Ahead of them, she noticed three entrances: one in front of them going east, and two others on either side, leading north and south. And then the light went out.
Eli groaned when the light disappeared. "Gandalf, can't you keep that thing lit up a little longer? I really don't like the idea of standing in an empty hall with such a minimal amount of illumination."
The Wizard shook his head. "I am sorry, my dear, but I cannot keep up the light for longer than necessary. We might call more attention than is needed." He looked up. "There used to be great windows on the mountain-side, and shafts leading out to the light in the upper reaches of the Mines. I think we have reached them now, but it is night outside again, and we cannot tell until morning. If I am right, tomorrow we might actually see the morning peeping in. But in the meanwhile we can go no further. Let us rest, if we can. Things have gone well so far, and the greater part of the dark road is over. For we are not through yet, and it is a long way down to the Gates that open on the world."
Camille sighed, glad that she was finally going to get some decent sleep. She helped the others set up a small camp of sorts in a corner of the hall, where the draft wasn't so strong. She glanced over at Eli, and noticed that the girl was still standing, looking into the gloom. "Something the matter?"
Her best friend nodded slowly. "Yeah. Of course, I might just be going paranoid, but I doubt that." She hissed as she walked over to them. "Damn it, but my ninja instincts are going into overdrive mode! Damn room with all its pillars! I feel like someone or something is going to leap out from behind them and throw a shuriken at me."
Merry looked up at her curiously. "What is a ninja?"
Eli sighed, and proceeded to give a full explanation about ninjas and their skills and talents. Everyone was impressed by the explanation, especially where it concerned their proficiency with all kinds of weapons and talent at stealth. They were even more impressed when they learned that Eli was actually trained as one.
"And that's why I feel so uncomfortable in this hall," she said at last. "My instincts are telling me that something is terribly wrong, and that we're going to find out exactly what it is, sooner rather than later."
Sam sighed then, and gazed upwards towards a ceiling he couldn't see. "Now that you talk about ninjas, Miss Eli, I'm starting feel a little uncomfortable around here. Dwarves didn't live in these darksome holes, surely?"
"These are not holes," Gimli said. "This is the great realm and city of the Dwarrowdelf. And of old it was not darksome, but full of light and splendor, as it is still remembered in our songs." Here he began to chant in a slow, deep voice, and it was a song about how Moria was made, and of the greatness of its creator, Durin.
When the song was ended, Sam exclaimed, "I liked that! I should like to learn it. But it makes the darkness seem heavier, thinking of all those lamps. Are there piles of gold and jewels lying around here still?"
It was Gandalf who spoke. "Piles of jewels? No. The Orcs have often plundered Moria; there is nothing left in the upper halls. And since the dwarves fled, no one dares seek the shafts and treasuries down in the deep places; they are drowned in water – or a shadow of fear."
"Then what do the Dwarves want to come back for?" asked Sam.
"For mithril," answered Gandalf. "The wealth of Moria was not in gold and jewels, the toys of the Dwarves; nor in iron, their servant. Such things they found here, it is true, especially iron; but they did not need to delve for them: all things that they desired they could obtain in traffic. For here alone in the world was found Moria-silver, or true-silver as some have called it: mithril is the Elvish name. The Dwarves have a name, which they do not tell. Its worth was ten times that of gold, and now it is beyond price; for little is left above ground, and even the Orcs dare not delve here for it. The lodes lead away north towards Caradhras, and down into darkness. The Dwarves tell no tale; but even as mithril was the foundation for their wealth, so also it was their destruction: they delved too greedily and too deep, and disturbed that from which they fled, Durin's Bane. Of what they brought to light the Orcs have gathered nearly all, and given it in tribute to Sauron, who covets it.
"Mithril! All folk desired it. It could be beaten like copper, and polished like glass; and the Dwarves could make of it a metal, light and yet harder than tempered steel. Its beauty was like to that of common silver, but the beauty of mithril does not tarnish or grow dim. The Elves dearly loved it, and among many uses they made of it ithildin, or starmoon, which you saw upon the doors."
"Like silver but doesn't tarnish and is ten times the value of gold… That sounds a lot like platinum," Camille murmured. When she saw inquiring eyes gazing at her, she added, "Platinum is a special kind of metal where we are from. Like this mithril you're talking about, it's harder than steel, and looks like silver when polished but doesn't tarnish like real silver. It has many uses but since it looks like silver, it's been used in jewelry too." She reached up to her right ear, and removed her small platinum hoop earring. "Here's a sample of it."
Gimli reached out to take it, and looked at it carefully. After a while, he shook his head, and gave it back to her. "It does look and feel like mithril at first glance, but careful observation will show that it is not. But it truly does resemble mithril…the weight, and the color of it…but it does not have the glow of mithril. Even in such a dark place as this true mithril would shine even dimly."
Camille put the earring back on, and stretched. "Well, whatever. I'm going to sleep now." With that, she shut her eyes, and fell into a deep and refreshing slumber.
AUTHOR'S NOTES: Okay, that was another boring interlude thing. Initially, this chapter and the next were one, but I decided to split them because it got too long. Anyway, the real action begins in the next chapter. See you there!