Chapter 3

The deep grey-blue sea was troubled in Mithlhach's dreams. Like her eyes it was unfathomable, hiding deep down many mysteries that the bright light of the sun could not unveil however hard she tried. Yet she continued to shine down, red and flaming through the clouds as if to bring happiness out of the shadow.

But no, she wasn't the sun, that circle filled with fire. It did not bring happiness, only pain.

It was an eye. Bearing down upon the grey-blue, burning to bring fine drops of water into the air like invisible tears. Mithlhach saw not the sea any longer. Only the eye remained! Nay, eyes. Two she could see now. Twice as agonizing in their fiery scrutiny of her soul.

"You cannot have it! It is my only…"

Mithlhach awoke to the echo of her own cry and sat up. Tears streamed down her cheeks. Her eyes stung and she could hardly see. All was darkness about her but for a red glow, the glow of her ring in the cold of the stone room. She stared down at it and slowly lay down again.

"You shall not take him from me," she said softly, not understanding her own words but drifting heedlessly back to sleep.

A crisp morning came the next day and Lindil stood high on a peak, his clear sight piercing the mists to see the green of Mirkwood far below. The wind blew his dark hair like new leaves on a young still tree.

When he had come out at night he realised that they had not reached the other side of the mountains but only a shallow valley between peaks. His curiosity led him to return to the caves though he loved them not, and he was able, without much difficulty, to find the dragon's layer. Or so he thought.

He had found himself in a tall cave, almost identical to the dragon's one but for one detail. There was no dragon. He did not feel that his memory had failed him although he had travelled through the dark tunnels with a great speed. With cat-like nimbleness he climbed to the tunnel where he had looked down from before. A burnt cloak lay inside it. Mithlhach's. So 'twas indeed the same place only the dragon had disappeared.

Finding himself back in the tunnel he remembered the side passageway Mithlhach had spoken of. Yet however closely he looked he saw no doorway or even a crack in the smooth walls of the tunnel. There was no way she could have escaped the dragon's raging fire. This was indeed strange. But stranger things were yet to come.

As he returned to the doorway, anxious to breathe the night-air again he heard a cry. 'Twas behind him. He took a step back and heard the voice but recognised it this time. Mithlhach. He took swift silent steps towards where she slept and saw her fast asleep and quite safe in her spider made bed.

He went quickly outside and climbed high on a peak pondering over what he had heard and discovered under the stars of Elbereth, praying to her for clear sight. Now all the stars had faded away and the sun shone down upon him and he still knew not what to do.

 He looked back towards the arched doorway of the cave and saw the three dwarves huddled around a small fire talking amongst themselves. Even from his great altitude Lindil could see the seriousness in their faces and the worry on Merin's brow.

They did not hear the elf approach on his light feet so he caught a part of their argument.

"A foolish notion," Sarin was telling Merin, "Our young brother is right. The plan can by no means be abolished. We did not come all this way for nothing. Therefore, she shall not know of it."

"Yes she shall," said Merin wringing his hands, "You know her way."

Corin laughed.

"Are you afraid of a young girl? Why, you were over two hundred when she was born. How can you fear her?"

"You know very well…" began Merin before he suddenly saw Lindil.

Lindil too found it unusual that dwarves though they be, a young child of man could command their respect, at least in her presence, and in Merin's case, even fear.

"Good morning," said Lindil.

Merin was about to answer when he saw that Lindil was not looking at him.

"Good morning," replied Mithlhach.

Merin jumped when he heard her voice behind him. He was itching to ask how long she had been standing there but Sarin was looking at him so pointedly that he kept his mouth closed and settled with fidgeting with his beard.

Mithlhach drew her hood over her head and her cloak about her shoulders. Lindil looked at her suspiciously but only for a moment. His suspicions fled on seeing her. She was truly but a child. Also, he could not forget the service she had rendered him during the skirmish and with the dragon. Mithlhach smiled at him and seemed so much more the innocent child that he almost dismissed all the questions he was meaning to ask her.

"Sit down and have breakfast," ordered Sarin.

Mithlhach obeyed him rather to Lindil's surprise. He watched her eat for a while before asking her where she had found a new cloak.

"I carry it with me," she replied, "When 'wandering in the wild' spare things are greatly needed."

He seemed satisfied with this explanation and sat down himself though, as usual, eating only the elvish food he carried with him.

"How long till we leave the mountains?" asked Mithlhach.

"Two days, perhaps three," said Sarin.

"How can that be," said Lindil, "I deem it to be a days march at the most."

Mithlhach glanced at him and then back at her food while the dwarves glared at him. Soon they were done eating and walking along the tunnels but this time with Mithlhach and Lindil leading and Merin and Corin at the back with Sarin in the middle holding a lantern.

"It seems I made an error in thinking there were many dwarves in the mountains. Are you not reclaiming them with your brethren?" asked Mithlhach.

"No," said Merin.

"Of course," said Sarin at the same time.

"No?" repeated Mithlhach, "Then what are you doing here?"

"We came to explore," said Sarin, "And also to give help to those who need it. They needed not our help so we went off on our own and met unfortunately with that worm beast."

"So you have not found the chamber yet?"

Merin was about to speak but Sarin answered before him.

"Chamber? Why, which chamber do you speak of?"

"The Red Chamber of course. Is that not why you are here? To find it?" she asked and stopped walking to look searchingly at them.

"Truly we have come to find it," cried Corin, "And it is no concern of yours."

"So this is what happens when I leave?" said Mithlhach, "Talk of nonsense and the making of foolish schemes. Worry not, Corin, I wish to have no part in it."

"You are part of it, my dear," said Sarin soothingly, "Now have done and keep walking. We can make this search with or without you."

"My brother will not be pleased," she muttered.

"Your brother will not know unless you tell him."

"What exactly do you hope to achieve?"

"You already know."

"Yes. But what do you expect from him?"

"Answers," said Corin.

"Riches," thought Lindil.

"The dead can give no answers," said Mithlhach striding faster.

"I do not believe him to be dead," said Sarin hurrying after her.

"Believe what you will but look for him no longer. He is dead."

"What makes you so sure?"

Mithlhach glanced at Lindil and back at Sarin.

"You cannot look for the chamber."

"We shall go," said Corin, "And you cannot stop us."

"Can I not?" said Mithlhach calmly and began slowly to release her sword from its sheath.

"Stop this," said Lindil taking her arm, "Why quarrel among friends? Has the darkness not past? Do not create it yourselves. Why do you care what they do? If you are so concerned why not accompany them?"

She stared at his wise face for several moments and there was a soft ring of metal in the silence as the sword slipped back.

"Come then," said Mithlhach, "I shall show you the Red Chamber."

The two strode on ahead with the dwarves stomping on behind so Lindil did not see the suspicious looks they gave him.

"He was not in the plans for this expedition," muttered Corin.

"Neither was she," said Sarin, "We should have departed sooner."

"I should have departed later," said Mithlhach, "I may have had more time to remove these ideas from their heads."

"Who do they search for?" asked Lindil.

"It has been a long time since I've been to the chamber so I would appreciate silence as I try to keep us on the right track. It is quite tricky in these parts of the mountains. It seems he did not…it seems the chamber was not meant to be found easily."

She would speak no more and though the others broached her with questions a few times she simply ignored them. A constant frown was on her brow as she hurried through some areas and went gingerly across others.

Several times they would hurry past a tunnel filled with a great stench, a hot sticky stench like decayed flesh being steamed and filling the air, else loud squelching thuds could be heard. A day and a half passed but they continued to twist and turn through the passages until the stifling darkness seemed almost unbearable even to the dwarves.

Lindil watched the small, cloaked figure before him. It seemed almost as if it was all he had seen for years, the back of a curly head of dark hair bobbing ahead of him. He was about to reach out to her and ask where they were when suddenly Mithlhach stopped and turned. She glanced at the hand he had extended before her but said nothing of it.

"We are almost there," she said, her soft words shockingly harsh on their ears after the long hours of silence, "This is where the danger begins…for us. So far we have avoided the dangers I faced the first time I came here. Why just down that left passage…" she paused as if she had just remembered a past hurt and a grim smile came to her lips, "It is of no consequence. Now ahead of us is a short corridor leading to the Red Chamber."

Corin stepped impetuously forward and pushed past her. A soft click echoed past them and with a sudden swish a blade appeared out of nowhere and was heading for Corin from the side. Mithlhach had caught the back of his cloak and gave it a sharp tug just as he cried out. The blade swept past him taking with it a large part of his beard.

"No!" he cried, "My lovely beard!"

He held the remnants of it in his hands and stared at it mournfully while Mithlhach looked at him with an amused smile.

"Foolish dwarf," said Lindil, "Do you value your beard above your life? Be thankful 'twas not your head you lost."

"When you know him better," said Mithlhach, "You will understand that his beard is indeed dearer to him than life. Forgive me Corin, I should have pulled you back sooner."

"Or later," said Sarin with a laugh.

The others laughed with him, even Lindil who was still wondering what Mithlhach meant by 'when you know him better'. A strange rumbling sound began to grow about them stopping the laughter on their faltering lips.

"Oh dear," said Mithlhach in response to the questioning looks directed at her, "It has triggered off something else. No matter, we shall deal with them as they come."

She stepped towards the swinging blade and Merin whimpered. She smiled reassuringly at him and went into a dark tunnel by her side. She returned with a small boulder.

"It is a mercy it is still here," she said, "You could not imagine the trouble I had finding it."

She waited for the blade to swing to the far left before pushing the boulder in its path. The blade stuck firmly in it leaving a clear path on the right. However, Mithlhach did not let them take it yet. Arrows would be shot from the left wall, she explained, and last time she had brought a shield with her. She did not have it with her now.

"I know," said Merin, "We could hide behind the boulder and someone could push it along to shield us as we pass."

"You have just shown us exactly why you prefer not to speak!" said Sarin, "Who, may I ask, will push the boulder at the risk of getting shot full of arrows? And what is going to stop the blade from swinging back to slice the boulder-pusher before he even moves it a foot?"

"I am ashamed to call you my brother," Corin told the embarrassed Merin.

"Is there no way to stop the arrows?" Lindil asked Mithlhach.

"There may be," she replied, "I had not the leisure to find out last time as I was being chased by orcs."

"That's an interesting idea," said Sarin stroking his beard thoughtfully.

Already, his dwarvish mind was busy trying to figure out how the contraption worked so that it could be broken. If there was one thing he understood, it was machines. He rummaged through his bag and found an old travel worn hood. He tossed it ahead of him. Immediately the hood was shot through with arrows as it fell. Sarin then threw a small rock and several other useless things and watched the pattern of arrows carefully while his brothers watched him in some annoyance whereas, Mithlhach and Lindil looked on with interest.

"Did you see that?" asked Sarin with a satisfied smile.

"Yes," said Corin, "You just ruined a perfectly good hood!"

"The arrows come only one by one and only from back to forward, never back again," said Lindil.

"Correct!" said Sarin.

"But how will that help us?" asked Corin.

"Well if one of us went across the others could follow and not get shot."

"But the one in front is still in danger of being hit," said Mithlhach.

"Now do not pick holes in my ideas. No doubt you shall think of a better one as soon as we leave this place and others may have better ideas if they were in our situation. But they are not so we cannot take their advice. Do you have any advice?"

"I was simply stating fact. However, I do have an idea. The arrow goes for the first part of the first thing that moves past it. Why not carry something ahead of us as a target for them rather than one of us."

"Yes," said Lindil, "I shall carry my sword ahead of me to attract the arrows while you all follow."

"But…but…" said Merin, "You have no surety. You may still end up being the target for the arrows if they do not go for your sword or if you are not fast enough."

Touched by the genuine anxiety Merin so obviously felt for him Lindil smiled at him kindly and assured him that the risk he was taking was very little. This seemed to calm him a trifle until Lindil said that elves healed quickly. He was obliged then to add that it was improbable that he would ever have to prove that statement.

"This does seem like a rather odd scheme," said Mithlhach, "I agree with Sarin that we will surely think of a much better idea once the danger is passed but since this is the only one we currently have I think we should go ahead with it."

Lindil drew his sword. They decided that since the dwarves were wearing light armour they should be in line in case a new line of arrows was shot and that Mithlhach would be sheltered to the right of them. On the count of three they all rushed forward. A torrent of arrows sped after them. As they thought, the arrows hit Lindil's sword as it was the first thing they could hit however, they seemed to have misjudged the speed. Suddenly the arrows would be shot slower so that Lindil had to slow down himself to escape being shot and then just as suddenly they would speed up again so that Sarin, who was last, escaped arrows by a hairsbreadth.

"How far does this last?" shouted out Lindil.

"Just till that red door," replied Mithlhach.

She was holding the lantern and held it higher so that the light fell further forward and a door could be seen not too far away from them. Closer and closer it got but whenever they felt they had almost reached it the arrows would slow them down. Finally it was just ahead and the arrows were fast. They hit the end of Lindil's sword loudly and then stopped. With a big bang they all fell against the door in relief. Merin took out a handkerchief to mop his brow while they caught their breath.

"The arrows have not stopped yet!" cried Mithlhach.

She was quite right. The arrows seemed to have stopped when they reached the other side but now they were being shot from the beginning again. Mithlhach watched them get quickly closer. Within seconds they would be dead. Lindil attempted to open the door but it had no handle.

"Mithlhach!"

She quickly turned around and began to push the door. The others followed her example. They had not failed to notice that the wall beside them had not just one hole for the arrow to come through but several. They could only assume that it meant several arrows would be shot at them at once. With a mighty creak the red door finally yielded and they fell forward onto the ground just as they heard the arrows whistling past behind them.

Mithlhach laughed with relief and stood up. She offered her hand to Merin and helped him up. The others looked up in awe.

"This, my friends, is the Red Chamber," said Mithlhach.

The tall walls around them were tinged red though they could not tell why and in front of them were what seemed to be a hundred steps leading onto a high platform. Mithlhach started to climb them and the rest followed. The closer to the top they came, the warmer it seemed to get. When, exhausted, they reached the top of the platform they saw a strange well in the middle of it. But it did not contain water. Instead it held a red, thick and fiery mass far below. Like fire it seemed, but solid. The heat it gave was intense even though they were not so close to it. The light of it gave their faces a red glow so that they looked as red as the room. Beside the well was a stone chair, beautifully carved in such a way that the stone itself seemed as though it were made of flames. Five of the six walls were carved in the same way making the companions feel as though they were inside a fire itself.

Steps led down from the six sides of the platform to each wall. Mithlhach went a few steps down one side and sat down to look at the sixth wall. The wall without fire. In a strong contrast this wall was grey and cool. The carvings on it were like the waves of the sea and in the centre was painted a picture so lifelike that all but Mithlhach gasped.

"Yes, she is beautiful," said Mithlhach.

The painting was of a dark haired woman standing in a dress as blue as her rather translucent eyes with a staff in her hand and a swan at her heels. She was beautiful but not as beautiful as many Lindil had seen, as her beauty lay more in her soft smile and the glow of her cheeks. The staff she held was shaped at the top as a swan's head gazing out at the world ahead.

When Lindil turned he saw that Mithlhach was no longer sitting on the stairs. He climbed up to the platform and saw her sitting in the stone chair gazing mournfully down the well.

The chair was so big that her booted feet did not touch the ground but she looked like she belonged in it just like the room fit her somehow, as if it was meant for her. But her eyes were full of sorrow and bitterness. When she looked up and saw him there he got but a glimpse of the pain before her eyes quickly became hard as if she had closed the door to her heart and shut in the grief.

"Let us go now," she said, "I told you he would not be here."

She slid off the tall chair and took one last long look at the painting of the woman.

"She was my mother," she said in a hollow voice, "She died when I was born."

"Why did you not want us to come here?" asked Merin.

"It was dangerous."

"Is that the truth? Or is it because you were afraid he was here?" asked Sarin.

"'Tis strange how hope turns to fear over the years," she said and would say no more of the matter, "Let us leave now, this place makes me feel lost and inadequate. It is she who should be here. Not me."

They walked down the stairs to a red door framed with gleaming jewels.

"This is not the door we came in by," said Corin.

"We cannot go out that way," explained Mithlhach, "And we cannot come in from this door. I do not know how or why it is."

This door opened with far more ease but once they were all safely outside, it closed itself behind them. They were now out in the evening air and the stars were beginning to fill the sky. Lindil turned back to see the door but there was no longer any trace of it at all.

"It has disappeared," cried Corin.

"An ancient magic," said Lindil, "And strong at that. Whoever made that room…"

"Let us eat," interrupted Mithlhach, "I feel as though I have not eaten in an age."