The next morning when Andúin awoke, Jnían was already up and about. It seemed that a good night's sleep was all she needed to energize. Her hair was still muddy and her dress still tattered, but the sparkle was back in her eyes again. She was trotting around the camp upon Amáteria.
"Let's get going!" Jnían suggested with a smile. Andúin jumped up and ran over to her.
"I'm so glad you're alight," Andúin smiled, lifting herself up to sit right beside Jnían.
"Thanks to you two," she said, giving her a tight hug.
"You were very brave," Andúin encouraged.
"Let's go," she repeated, helping Hwesta up, while Andúin was mounting Alata.
By mid-day they had made it to the dirt path, and were already heading east. After three days' ride along the path, they started north again. Even for knowing each other for a rather short segment of time, they all became good friends. Since Jnían's rescuer, they had seen no sign of the delegates. After four and a half days of steady riding, they were excited to find that they had finally come upon the great rock formation.
Carefully they dismounted and began to approach it. "We don't know the words," Hwesta said with inquiry.
"Don't need no words," a deep voice grunted from behind a small part of the frontal formation. The four of them backed up. "No need to worry," the voice continued, "just Fígyl." A small tip of a curved red helmet began to appear.
"Fígyl?" Faroth questioned.
"Yes, Fígyl," the voice answered proudly. The helmet continued to come up until the figure's full head was in view. He hopped over the stone and onto the ground. He was a gnome, one of the last of his kind, and none of the party had ever had the privilege to see one before. "No need for words," he repeated, "but needs somethin' else you do."
"What might that be?" Jnían questioned thoughtfully.
"A diamond," he replied.
A diamond, Andúin thought to herself. She looked to Jnían and nodded knowingly.
"Could it be this diamond?" Jnían asked, pulling the diamond they had discovered with the first piece from her bag. Faroth and Hwesta gapped widely at the large gem in her hand.
"That'd be the one," the gnome exclaimed with a smile. "Hand it here please." Jnían carefully handed him the beautiful stone. "Yes, you may enter now," he stated reassuringly.
They quickly dismounted, Faroth and Andúin taking their horses' reins in their hand, Amáteria obediently following Jnían. Hwesta peered with his large eyes into the dark depths of the cave. He then pulled a bit of some sort to herb from a pouch on his side, whispering something. Soon his hand was glowing brightly. Hwesta smiled proudly, turning and leading the group into the depths of the cave, lighting the way.
The group went deeply into the cave, the only sound echoing was their horses' hooves. "This seems almost too easy," Faroth commented suddenly. "Well, I guess I was just expecting more resistance then this," he answered to the girls' questioning looks.
"You need not worry about that, Master Faroth," Hwesta said suddenly. "Something is ahead; I would suspect a goblin troop."
"Hwesta, put out the light," Jnían commanded, and as Hwesta snuffed the herb, they were plunged into total darkness.
"I can still see fairly well," Hwesta commented, his voice low.
"We shall continue to follow you, then," Andúin said. "My eyes don't seem to adjust to this darkness."
They walked single file following Hwesta, until the darkness was broke. They had come upon a campfire, surrounded by several goblins, all disgustingly eating fish and talking together in a scratchy language. They were all oblivious to the four figures in the darkness.
They snuck as close as they could before one of the goblins finally spotted them, letting out an ear shattering screech. Faroth quickly grabbed the creature nearest him around the neck, trying to strangle it. Andúin and Jnían soon had drawn their blades, slashing through the goblins' thin armor. The remaining goblins finally grabbed their seldom used weapons, bows and long pieces of crude steel, and began to fight back. Andúin missed a block as one of the steel weapons came down hard across her chest, a loud metallic sound echoing. The breath was knocked from her, but she quickly inhaled, bringing Andúril down hard, crushing the creature's skull.
The group finally stopped as Jnían slit the last goblin's throat cleanly, catching their breath. "Enough excitement for you, then, Faroth?" Andúin teased, when an arrow came from the shadows, followed closely by another, both landing in Faroth's thigh.
Jnían quickly ran into the shadows as Faroth fell to the ground, and Andúin soon heard the sickening sound of two dying goblins before Jnían reappeared. Hwesta was already at Faroth's side, examining the wounds. "The arrows have poison tips, methinks," he said, pulling them from Faroth's skin.
"Poison?" Andúin repeated.
"A lot of goblin captains gain access to poison arrows," Jnían explained. "Crude and usually slow working, but powerful once it is circulating. The more Faroth does, the faster and more devastating the poison is."
"Does it pain you?" Andúin asked him.
"The wounds themselves will quickly heal," Faroth replied. "But I do feel a little dizzy. I think I can walk though."
"We will help you walk until we can get out of the cave," Jnían said. "Then I can find an athelas plant. Until then, we can only hope to not stumble upon more enemies."
They gathered what little they could from the goblin campsite, including some bread and dried meat, and they also gathered the remained poison tipped arrows, placing them in Faroth's quiver. Hwesta relit the herb, and Andúin and Jnían together supported Faroth as they followed the tunnel.
Andúin noticed a glimmer in the walls of the cave. "If I had to guess, I would say that is mithril, as the Elves call it," she said, running her fingers down one of the glittering veins. "I always thought it to be common in the Misty Mountains, not this far east though. But that would explain the goblins."
"It is a good sign, to find it unmined like this," Jnían said. "If dwarves would have discovered it, it would be gone, as would our piece of the staff I would guess."
Andúin laughed lightly at the disgust in Jnían's voice. Though the Fourth Age had brought about a much tighter bound between the remaining Elves and the dwarves, there was still an amount of tension that would probably never cease. She began to hum to herself, lost in her thoughts.
"What tune do you sing, Andúin?" Jnían asked her.
"Something my grandfather used to sing when I was very young. It is one of the only memories I have on him." She then sang it more clearly so Jnían could hear her:
"The road goes ever on and on
Down from the road where it began
Now far ahead the Road has gone
And I must follow if I can
Pursuing it with eager feet,
Until it joins some long way
Where many paths and errands meet
And whither then? I can not say."
Her voice faded as they entered a large cavern. Skeletons of men, orcs, dwarves, and goblins lay scattered about. Hwesta again muttered to the herb in his hand, and it took on its brightest form, revealing the entire cavern.
"We were not the first to have come here," Faroth said. "Let us hope that all those before us now lay here, and none escaped with the staff."
"They didn't," Jnían said simply, and the others followed her gaze to the center of the room. There was a large pedestal, gold in color, with large wings of mithril spreading from the top. "There on the floor," Jnían said then, pointing, and the third piece of the staff could easily be seen laying there. "Someone grabbed it, before…" she stopped, staring at the countless bodies.
"Maybe whatever happens was set up by lifting the staff," Faroth suggested, "and we don't have to do that."
"I hope you are right," Andúin said to him, slowly and carefully walking toward the staff piece. She reached down tentatively, and grasped her fingers around the cold metal. Nothing happened. The four were soon laughing, the tension quickly disappearing from the air.
Suddenly, they heard the sound of grinding rock. They instantly stopped laughing, turning and looking behind Andúin. "We must fly!" Jnían screamed, and they began to run for the cavern entrance. Before any of them reached it, they heard a crash and a low growl. The company turned to face the Final Fell Beast of Middle Earth. Over the long years, it had grown to an immense size. It stretched its large wingspan around them, blocking the entrance as its wormlike neck whipped a dangerous head around to face them.
An arrow flew past Andúin's face, landing in the creature's left eye. She turned to see Faroth, favoring one leg, but firing another goblin arrow into the creature's other eye. It screeched in pain, blinded, and withdrew its wings slightly. Faroth pushed Jnían through the small gap, following quickly himself. Hwesta suddenly run up in front of Andúin, though, instead of back through the exit, pulling something from a pouch on his waist. "Dagnir Galad!" he screamed, and a brilliant white light ejected, and then the cave was in darkness.
Andúin turned, running blindly, and hit the creature's limp wing. She could still feel the blood pulsing quickly through its enlarged veins though. It was stunned. She felt her way along the wing and out into the tunnel, running as fast as she could.
She emerged from the cave, seeing Faroth and Jnían nearby a large rock. They motioned for her, and she dropped beside them. She peered around the rock as they did, and saw the delegates. They appeared to be fighting a small creature, who could be none other then Fígyl.
Suddenly Lhach emerged from their ranks. He approached the small creature that had somehow managed to kill three of his men. He flashed a disgusted look, and then pulled the twin blades from his back, quickly decapitating the gnome.
"I must go back," Jnían stated, her voice barely above a whisper.
"What? No, you wasn't the Fell Beast is still in there," Andúin warmed.
Faroth looked up from watching the delegates. "She's right, you—" he started, but she was already gone. Jnían worked her way along the damp cave wall in the darkness. She could hear the Fell Beast's heavy breathing.
"Hwesta," Jnían whispered. She made it to Amáteria, Alata, and Faroth's stallion, all three horses having been left near the goblin's camp, and now were panicking in the darkness. She calmed them, listening for Hwesta, but she heard nothing. "Hwesta," she called again, a little louder.
"Here, Mi'Lady," he groaned. She felt her way toward his voice. "My leg is hurt," he said quietly.
"Come," she commanded, pulling him up onto Amáteria with her right arm. With now warning a loud shriek came from deeper within the cave, growing louder and louder. "It's coming, we must hurry," Jnían said, mounting Amáteria behind Hwesta.
As fast as they could, they raced though the dark corridor, the other horses instinctively following Amáteria. Once they made it out, the bright sunlight momentarily blinded the group. Before they knew what was happening, they were being thrown down. Finally able to see, Jnían saw Lhach. She looked to her right, seeing Faroth and Andúin lying face down in the dirt.
"How fortunate to meet you here," Lhach commented dryly. Jnían looked at him and smiled. "What are you smiling about?" he grunted. About a minute later, with no reply, the Last Fell Beast exploded from the opening of the cave. There was thick purple liquid seeping from its damaged eyes. It flew straight toward Lhach. Flying almost twenty feet up, gravity took its toll on the man's body. Jnían took action. She jumped to her feet and ran toward her friends. Faroth was unconscious, and Andúin appeared a bit dizzy. She swiftly unsheathed Ranafëa and was headed back towards the remaining delegates. She whistled and Aátrius was off headed south. One her first opponent she pivoted her left foot, and swung her right, smashing into his bony jaw. She could see Lhach out of the corner of her eye, still breathing, but severely hurt laying on the ground. The Fell Beast had taken out most of Lhach's men in rapid sweeps, and the others were already mounted and headed back from where they came. By now Andúin was on her feet, and fighting what was left of the enemies while trying to avoid the Fell Beast.
Jnían made her way over to Faroth again. The poison was probably spreading much more quickly now. She put her hands under each of his arms and rug him over to his stallion. With Andúin's quick help, Faroth was laid on the horse with care.
"Get Hwesta," Jnían told Andúin.
"Yes, he can ride with me. You take Faroth," she agreed.
Once all three of them were mounted, they were off, away from the cave and the creature, which had began to eat its kill. Andúin and Hwesta were once again leading, while Jnían led the Faroth's horse behind Amáteria.
"We need to find an Athelas plant soon" Jnían warned. "The poison is spreading quickly."
"Look," Hwesta said, pointing from the horse. "It appears there might be some there."
"Hurry!" Jnían shouted with worry on her tone. "I don't know how much longer he'll hold out. We need to stop. Hwesta, take Andúin and go ahead and find the plant, I'll stay and look after him." Once they were gone Jnían managed to lower Faroth slowly to the ground. She tore a piece of her dress and wet it. She could still hear the shrieking of the Fell Beast in the distance. She spread the cloth across Faroth's forehead, and began to hum an Elvish tune