Here we are once again, Faron Friday! Last week, we left our Fellowship as they just entered Moria. This is quite a long chapter, over five thousand words! Longest chapter I've done, but I felt it more right to fit all of Moria into one chapter. And I also apologise for the fight scene later. . .I'm not good at it.
Review responses;
CrystalVixen93 – Thank you! And we're walking through Moria this week. Please enjoy. . .if you can :'(
kionforever89 – Yep. . .please be brave. I almost lost it writing this chapter.
The Heartache of Moria
We spend many hours walking along through the large cavern, all of us keeping quiet for fear of disturbing anything that should be kept silent. We travel as long as the little hobbits can before we stop for breaks to eat and rest.
After climbing up long and shallow stairs, we stop as we come to a crossroad in the mine: three doorways loom before us. One leading down to the right, one in the center and the other on the left. Gandalf glances from one to the other and back.
"I have no memory of this place."
I stand beside the wizard and looking into the doorways as he turns to me.
"Do you have any memory of this, Faron?"
I shake my head. "I have no memory of a lot of this now. It all looks so different to how it was thirty years ago."
He nods. "Alright. We will rest here while I work out which way we go."
He sits at the top of the stairs while the rest of us sit a few stairs down on a ledge. I sit next to Gimli as we all huddle together in a circle.
"Are we lost?" Pippin suddenly asks.
"No." Merry tells him.
"I think we are."
"Shh! Gandalf's thinking." Sam scolds.
Pippin goes quiet for a moment. "Merry?"
"What?"
"I'm hungry."
This causes me to smile before I then proceed to think about Balin and the others, my fear for them growing. For the past thirty years, there has always been that doubt in the back of my mind that something has happened, but I always push it aside, knowing that Balin is a strong dwarf, he wouldn't die so easily. . .but then I used to think that of father. . .
Nudging Gimli, I begin to sign as he looks over.
"I'm afraid. We have yet to find a living dwarf. What if. . .what if something has happened? What if they're dead?"
"Don't think like that, cousin. Like you always used to tell us, we need to have hope and faith and to keep it in our hearts."
I nod, although at the moment, I can no longer feel the same hope and faith I used to keep locked away many years ago. I think all of that left after the Battle of the Five Armies. I know Gimli senses my doubt as I feel one of his large hands take one of my slender ones and keeps hold of it for comfort. I smile at that. Dwarves are known to be tough and emotionless creatures, being judged that way by those who do now know dwarves. But I know of them to hold more emotion than any other being I know of, especially to family. I squeeze his hand and sit closer to him, gladly accepting the comfort of my third brother.
"What was that?" I hear Sam ask.
Looking up, I see Sam, Merry and Pippin looking over, Frodo having joined Gandalf.
"What was what?"
"What you did with your hands."
I smile. "Oh, that was the dwarven sign language, Iglishmêk. Khuzdul, which is the secret language of the dwarves, is hardly ever spoken in view of other races, so dwarves start learning the sign language from a young age and use it to talk to each other when among others."
"You know the language and are not a dwarf." Boromir points out.
"As I have mentioned before, Boromir, I have been raised by dwarves. My mother and my father adopted me into their family when I was a babe. So of course I had the privilege to learn the language."
He nods and says nothing more on it.
"Do you not know anything about your birth family?" Merry asks.
I shake my head. "No. And I have no need to know of them. I have my family with the dwarves and love them all as if they were my own. Even this big lug." I finish with a grin as I nudge Gimli's shoulder, causing him to grin at me.
"The feelings mutual, lass."
Then instead of nudging me, he shoves me, causing me to fall back. The hobbits giggle and even Aragorn and Boromir chuckle slightly.
I grumble as I sit up. "I think I'm going to take back what I said."
Gimli chuckles, knowing I don't mean what I say.
"Oh! It's that way." Gandalf suddenly says.
We all jump up, Gimli, Aragorn and the hobbits putting out their pipes
"He's remembered!" Merry exclaims as we go up the stairs.
"No, but the air doesn't smell so foul down here." The wizard rests a hand on Merry's shoulder. "If in doubt, Meriadoc, always follow your nose."
"Unless it leads you to a troll cave." I say with a grin as we follow him down the stairs.
Gandalf chuckles as we walk.
We spend many hours walking down the stairs and along some corridors before we look to find somewhere to stop for the night.
"Let me risk a little more light."
He raises his staff, and for a brief instant there was blaze like a flash of lightning. Great shadows sprang up and fled, and for a second we see a vast roof far above their heads upheld by many mighty pillars hewn of stone. Before us and on either side stretched a huge empty hall; its black walls, polished and smooth as glass, flashed and glittered. Three other entrances we see, dark black arches: one straight before them eastwards, and one on either side.
"Behold: the great realm and Dwarf city of Dwarrowdelf."
"Now there's an eye opener and no mistake."
Then the light went out.
"That is all that I shall venture on for the present," said Gandalf. "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 may actually see the morning peeping in. But in the meanwhile we had better 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. But we are not through yet, and it is a long way down to the Gates that open on the world."
We spend that night in the great cavernous hall, huddled close together in a corner to escape the draught that begins to blow: there seems to be a steady inflow of chill air through the eastern archway.
"There must have been a mighty crowd of dwarves here at one time," Sam says as he looks around. "and every one of them busier than badgers for five hundred years to make all this, and most in hard rock too! What did they do it all for? They didn't live in these dark-some holes surely?"
"These are not holes," Gimli starts as he turns to the hobbit. `This is the great realm and city of the Dwarrowdelf. And of old it was not dark-some, but full of light and splendour, as is still remembered in our songs."
He rises and standing in the dark he begins to sing in a deep voice, while the echoes run away into the roof;
"The world was young,
the mountains green,
No stain yet on the Moon was seen,
No words were laid on stream or stone
When Durin woke and walked alone.
He named the nameless hills and dells;
He drank from yet untasted wells;
He stooped and looked in Mirrormere,
And saw a crown of stars appear,
As gems upon a silver thread,
Above the shadow of his head.
The world was fair, the mountains tall,
In Elder Days before the fall
Of mighty kings in Nargothrond
And Gondolin, who now beyond
The Western Seas have passed away:
The world was fair in Durin's Day."
I stand and walk over to stand behind him, placing my hands on his shoulders as I also sing.
"A king he was on carven throne
In many-pillared halls of stone
With golden roof and silver floor,
And runes of power upon the door.
The light of sun and star and moon
In shining lamps of crystal hewn
Undimmed by cloud or shade of night
There shone for ever fair and bright.
There hammer on the anvil smote,
There chisel clove, and graver wrote;
There forged was blade, and bound was hilt;
The delver mined, the mason built.
There beryl, pearl, and opal pale,
And metal wrought like fishes' mail,
Buckler and corslet, axe and sword,
And shining spears were laid in hoard.
Unwearied then were Durin's folk
Beneath the mountains music woke:
The harpers harped,
the minstrels sang,
And at the gates the trumpets rang."
Gimli then smiles at me and sits down, allowing me to continue signing alone as I walk to one of the pillars, leaning on it as I look down the hall.
"The world is grey, the mountains old,
The forge's fire is ashen-cold
No harp is wrung, no hammer falls:
The darkness dwells in Durin's halls
The shadow lies upon his tomb
In Moria, in Khazad-dûm.
But still the sunken stars appear
In dark and windless Mirrormere;
There lies his crown in water deep,
Till Durin wakes again from sleep."
Everyone goes quiet as I finish singing. I stay where I am standing, my mind stuck in the past, like I'm sure Gimli's would be.
"I like that!" Sam says. "I should like to learn it. 'In Moria, in Khazad-dûm!' But it makes the darkness seem heavier, thinking of all those lamps. Are there piles of jewels and gold lying about here still?"
Gimli was silent. Having sung his song he would say no more, neither would I.
"Piles of jewels?" Gandalf pipes up. "No. The Orcs have often plundered Moria; there is nothing left in the upper halls. And since the dwarves fled, no one dares to seek the shafts and treasuries down in the deep places: they are drowned in water-or in a shadow of fear."
"Then what do the dwarves want to come back for?" the hobbit asks.
"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 to darkness. The Dwarves tell no tale; but even as mithril was the foundation of 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 did not tarnish or grow dim. The Elves dearly loved it, and among many uses they made of it ithildin, starmoon, which you saw upon the doors. Bilbo had a hirt of mithril-rings that Thorin gave him. I wonder what has become of it? Gathering dust still in Michel Delving Mathom-house, I suppose."
"What?" Gimli cries, startled out of his silence. "A shirt of Moria-silver? That was a kingly gift!"
"Yes. I never told him, but its worth was greater than the value of the whole Shire and everything in it."
I smile as I turned to face the wizard. "I told him. Safe to say he was shocked."
"What did he say?"
"He said he could not accept something of such value and tried to give it back. Until I told him that refusal of a gift from a dwarf would be considered an insult, especially for the king. So, in the end, he had no choice but to keep it."
He chuckles. "Do you know what happened to it?"
"As far as I know he still has it. It's probably locked away in a chest or a cupboard or something."
He nods before everyone settles down to sleep. I offer to take first watch, staying where I am before pacing to the other side and then back before it is Legolas's turn to watch.
After a quick breakfast the next morning, we continue on and walk down the huge hall. I smile as I remember thirty years previous how this hall wall full of dwarves laughter, song and music as they rejoiced after reclaiming Durin's Halls.
As we're halfway down, Gimli suddenly lets out a cry and runs off.
"Gimli!" Gandalf calls after him.
I take off, running after him and ignoring Gandalf calling me back. I follow him into a room which is lit by a stream of sunlight shining through a gap in the wall. In the middle of the room was a tomb of sorts. My heart sinks, especially as I see Gimli fall to his knees and sobbing. I almost don't want to go near it, not wanting to see who's tomb it belongs to. But I push my legs forward, moving one foot in front of the other as I stand beside Gimli, reading the script on the top of the tomb and my heart drops into my stomach, my blood turning cold.
"No!" I cry out as I also fall to my knees beside Gimli.
I hear the others walk in, Gandalf walking up to the head of the tomb.
"'Here lies Balin, son of Fundin, Lord of Moria.' He is dead then. It's as I feared."
Gimli wails next to me and I wrap an arm around his shoulders to hold him as we weep for our kin.
"Kilmin malur ni zaram kalil ra narag. Kheled-zâram. . .Balin tazlifi." We both chant a dwarven prayer for him.
I feel Boromir's hand on my shoulder as Gandalf begins speaking. Looking up, I see him reading a book he had taken from the skeleton of a dwarf sat against the tomb.
"'They have taken the bridge. . .and the second hall.'"
Gimli stops sobbing, and also looks up.
"'We have barred the gates…but cannot hold them for long. The ground shakes. Drums. . .drums. . .in the deep.'"
He slowly looks up at us before turning back to the book.
"'We cannot get out. A shadow moves in the dark. We cannot get out…'" He pauses as he reads something on the page before he looks up in the uncomfortable silence. "'They are coming!'"
The silence is suddenly broken by large crash which echoes around the chamber. Looking up, we see a headless skeleton which is sat on the edge of the well, a chain and heavy chest attached to it Gandalf whips around.
Pippin turns to face him, looking guilty. As he does, the rest of the corpse slips into the well, dragging with it a chain and bucket. Noise echoes from hall to hall far below. Pippin winces at each wave of noise. I hold my breath at each noise, hoping nothing would wake and come after us. After the echoes stop, we wait for a few moments and everyone let's out a breath of relief as silence fills us once more.
Gandalf turns to him after he slams the book shut. "Fool of a Took! Throw yourself in next time and rid us of your stupidity!"
He pulls his hat and staff from the Hobbit's hands. Gandalf turns away. Pippin stands still, awkwardly. Drums are heard booming. Gandalf slowly turns back, and Pippin turns as well, staring down into the well. More drums are heard.
"Frodo!"
Looking over, I see Frodo pulling out a familiar sword glowing blue.
"Orcs!" Legolas calls out as we hear the screech of the creatures. Boromir rushes to the doors to have a look. Arrows hiss into the door near his face. Aragorn drops his torch and runs to Boromir.
I look to the hobbits. "Get back! You stay close to Gandalf!"
Gandalf huddles the hobbits together behind him in the corner as the doors are shut. A bellow can be heard just outside.
"They have a cave troll." Boromir says to Aragorn in sarcastic relief.
Legolas and I toss weapons to Boromir and Aragorn to blockade the door. Aragorn and Boromir stand with Legolas and I as we draw our weapons, Legolas, Aragorn and I an arrow notched onto our bows and Boromir his sword. Gandalf throws away his hat and pulls out his sword.
"Yah!"
"Argh! Let them come! There is one dwarf yet in Moria who still draws breath!" I hear Gimli growl from behind and above me, as I assume he's climbed on top of Balin's tomb.
"What do you say, nadadith? For our fallen kin?" I ask as I keep my gaze focused on the door.
I feel him pat my shoulder before he stands ready again. "Aye, namad. For our fallen kin!"
The orcs begin breaking the doors down. Weapons crash through splintering spaces. Legolas, Aragorn and I stand poised, ready to shoot. The first clear gap is gashed in the door and Legolas shoots — a shrill cry rings out. He notches an arrow to his bow as Aragorn and I shoot.
Suddenly, the beasts break through and the battle begins. A wave of armour-clad Orcs charge towards us, who engage the Orcs. Aragorn, Legolas and I pierce Orcs with our arrows before swapping for our blades. while Boromir smashes another with his sword; Gimli catches one in the stomach.
With a roar, Gandalf launches himself into the fray, and the Hobbits follow. I swing my blades, slashing and killing any orc that comes close before I stop suddenly. Looking up, I see the cave troll barging in, a chain attached to its neck. I have to quickly duck as it swings one of its giant arms, almost catching me and sending me flying.
I jump straight back into the fray, swinging and slicing as I go
I stop as I suddenly hear pained grunts coming from Frodo's direction. Looking around, I freeze as I see a spear sticking out of his chest.
"Frodo. . ."
Merry and Pippin suddenly give out battle cries as they leap onto the trolls head, stabbing it with their swords. Sam shouts for his friend as he tries to rush to him. I shake my head, snapping myself out of my shock as I turn to the troll to see it grabbing Merry and swinging him around and throwing him to the ground. Gandalf and Gimli take turns stabbing at the troll and dodging out of range. I take out an arrow and aim at the troll, waiting for the right moment. With Pippin stabbing it in the head, the troll opens its mouth and tilts its head up. I shoot the arrow up into the brain through the mouth.
The troll stops fighting and its hand fumbles towards its mouth where the arrow is. It stares upward, shocked. We all watch and wait, prepared to attack at any moment. However, it gives a long, pained moan, before collapsing to the ground, dead. Pippin is thrown against the floor. There is a moment of silence. All enemies are dead or have fled.
Everyone instantly runs over to Frodo. Aragorn crawls over to him.
"Oh no. . ."
Aragorn rolls him over and to our shock, Frodo groans, gasping for breath.
"He's alive!" Sam exclaim.
Gandalf sighs in relief, as do the rest of us as Frodo sits up, grabbing at where he was stabbed.
"I'm all right, I'm not hurt."
"You should be dead! That spear would have skewered a wild boar." Aragorn breathes out, not believing what he's seeing.
"I think there's more to this Hobbit than meets the eye."
Frodo pulls apart his shirt and reveals a Mithril shirt. It glimmering at us. I smile as I know it to be the shirt Bilbo received from father all those years ago.
"Mithril!" Gimli breathes out. "You are full of surprises, Master Baggins."
Orcs are heard in the distance.
"To the Bridge of Khazad-dûm!" Gandalf orders.
We all leave the chamber, with me pausing to retrieve the book Gandalf was reading from, and we all run through the hall we were in before. Looking back, I see us being closely pursued by an army of Orcs. Other Orcs spring out from the floor or crawl, like spiders, from the ceiling and down the pillars. We're soon surrounded and we stand in a circle, our weapons pointing outwards, the hobbits protected within.
The Orcs snarl and leer. A fiery light suddenly appears at the end of a hall followed by a thunderous rumble. The Orcs flee in all directions. We are soon left alone to gaze down the fiery hall.
"What is this new devilry?" Boromir asks.
Gandalf does not respond for a moment. Looking to him, I see he closes his eyes, concentrating. The rumble is heard again as he opens his eyes.
"A Balrog — a demon of the ancient world."
My eyes go wide, my whole being turning to ice. Durin's Bane. . .the creature Durin the Deathless woke thousands of years ago. The thing growls, still hidden around a corner of the vast hall, throwing fiery light on the pillars.
"This foe is beyond any of you. . .run!"
We don't question him as we bolt off down the hall and come to a small doorway. Gandalf shepherds us through.
"Quickly!"
We enter a passageway and go down a flight of steps. The flight ends in a missing segment, and being in the lead, Boromir nearly falls but Legolas pulls him back. His torch whirls away into the vast underworld beneath.
"Gandalf!"
I look back at them both.
"Lead them on, Aragorn! The bridge is near!"
They look across a wide space to a long bridge spanning the gap between a hall and a cliff face Behind us, the Balrog roars again. Aragorn moves towards Gandalf, but Gandalf pushes Aragorn roughly away from him.
"Do as I say!"
Hurt and confusion register on Aragorn's face.
"Swords are no more use here!"
The Balrog roars again and we descend a flight of massive stairs, soon encountering a gap in the stairs. Legolas and I leap and lands on the other side. The Balrog rumbles again. Foundations splinter and crumble, sending huge rocks tumbling into the depths.
"Gandalf." I call out to him.
Gandalf leaps after and I wrap my arms around him to steady him. He quickly pats my shoulder in thanks and turns to the others as arrows whistle into the air from a far ledge, striking the stone steps in front of Merry and Pippin's feet. Legolas shoots back. His arrow rises through the air and pierces the skull of an Orc. The Orc tumbles down from his ledge.
"Merry! Pippin! Hoo-aah!"
He leaps across the gap, both of the hobbits in his arms.
An exchange of arrows from Legolas and I follow from the stairs to the ledge, killing the orcs there.
"Sam."
Aragorn pitches Sam to us where he is caught by Boromir. Aragorn then reaches back to pick up Gimli, but he holds up his hand.
"Nobody tosses a dwarf."
He leaps forward but nearly falls back into the chasm. I pause in my shooting to rush to him, but Legolas grabs his beard and pulls him up.
"Not the beard!"
Despite the situation we're in, I have to grin at this. But it is soon wiped away as some of the stone steps on the other side crumble and fall. Aragorn pushes Frodo to safety. They climb to their feet and look at the now widened gap that separates them from the rest of us.
"Steady. Hold on!"
The Balrog can be heard approaching from the other hall. Stone structures around the mine collapse as it draws near. A huge rock falls from the ceiling and smashes through the steps behind Aragorn and Frodo, creating another gap behind them. The stairs begin to wobble.
"Hang on! Lean forward!"
"Come on!" I call out, my arms open and ready to catch my brother.
The duo shift their weight forward, tipping the stairs across the divide and slamming them onto the steps where we are, causing them to fall to us. I manage to catch Aragorn, Boromir doing the same to Frodo.
I look to Aragorn as we pull away. "You alright?"
He nods and quickly kisses my cheek before we run down the stiars as the stone structures collapse behind them.
After a long while of running, we finally round the corner which leads to the bridge, ignoring the fiery hall to our right. Gandalf pauses and points ahead.
"Over the bridge! Fly!"
We all run but soon stop as we turn back to see Gandalf staring at the wall of fire. My eyes widen in shock as a great form of black shadow leaps through the flames, its eyes of white fire, great ash-black horns curling around a bull-like head.
It opens its maw, rippling heat pouring out with a rumble. Gandalf turns, running after the rest of us as we turn and run on. A narrow bridge of stone appears in the fiery light, and form a single line to cross the bridge and run up a few stairs towards the exit.
"You cannot pass!"
"Gandalf!"
Whipping around at Frodo's call, I see Gandalf has stopped halfway across the bridge, facing the Balrog.
"I am the servant of the Secret Fire, wielder of the Flame of Anor. . ." light shines from his staff as he creates a shield of it around him. "The dark fire will not avail you! Flame of Udûn!"
The Balrog strikes down on Gandalf, who parries the blow with his blade, shattering the Balrog's sword. Glowing embers run off the circle of light around the wizard. The monster bellows at the wizard. Frodo gasps. Aragorn runs forward. My feet also itching to move forward as I helplessly watch my old friend.
"Go back to the Shadow!"
The Balrog steps onto the bridge. It brandishes a flaming whip. Gandalf raises his sword and staff together into the air.
"You — shall not — pass!"
Gandalf drives his staff into the bridge, causing a bright flash of blue light to appear. Flaring its nostrils, the Balrog steps forward onto the bridge.
The bridge collapses from under it as it moves towards Gandalf, and breaks before the wizard's staff. The demon plunges backward into the chasm, still wielding its glowing whip. Gandalf, exhausted, leans on his staff and watches the Balrog fall. I breathe a sigh of relief as he turns to follow us.
The flaming whip suddenly lashes up from the depths of the abyss and winds about Gandalf's ankle, dragging him over the edge. He clings onto the bridge but strains to keep his grip. Frodo rushes forward but Boromir restrains him.
"No, no!"
"Gandalf!"
I also rush forward as I see the wizard struggling, only to be caught by Legolas. He stops struggling as he looks to us.
"Fly, you fools!"
Then, to my horror, Gandalf lets go of the stone and falls into the chasm.
"No! Gandalf!" I cry out as I try to run to the bridge, but Legolas keeps a tight hold of me.
Keeping hold of one of my arms, he wraps an arm around my waist as he has to help me walk out. I also hear Frodo screaming and crying out for Gandalf.
We finally exit Moria where we can stop. All of us showing different signs of emotion. Boromir tries to restrain and console Gimli as the dwarf vents out his rage and sorrow.
Merry consoles Pippin, who lies crying.
Sam sits on the ground, bows his head onto his hands, and begins to weep.
Legolas holds me and I soon break, almost falling to the ground if it wasn't for his strong arms keeping me up. He keeps his arms around me and allows my to wrap my own around him, my hands fisting into his tunic as I cry out my grief on his shoulder. It all becomes too much. Finding out about my uncle's death, the death of Oin and Ori, along with every dwarf I left behind thirty years ago and then for Gandalf to die, the man I admired while growing up, who used to make sparkling butterflies with his magic when I was a child.
"Legolas, get them up." I hear Aragorn call out.
"Give them a moment, for pity's sake!" Boromir yells to him.
"By nightfall these hills will be swarming with Orcs! We must reach the woods of Lothlórien. Come, Boromir, Faron, Legolas, Gimli, get them up."
Managing to calm myself, I pull away from Legolas and thank him for the comfort. He just smiles and squeezes my arms gently before I walk away to my dwarven brother. Kneeling in front of him, I gently lift up his face so I can see him. His dirty cheeks are stained with tears tracks coming from his red eyes. I give him a small, soft smile.
"It'll be alright. We'll get through this. . .I don't know how, but as long we stick together, we'll get through it."
He looks to me for a moment and nods, a small watery smile appearing from under his bushy beard. We then both embrace each other tightly, seeking the comfort from one another for our fallen kin. I truly did not know how we would get through this, I barely could when father, Fili and Kili died, but as long as Gimli and I were together, we would be able to get through anything.
:'( I hated writing that as much as I did with the deaths of Thorin, Fili and Kili. . . .this was just a heart wrenching. Okay. Next chapter will be Lothlorien, and I have to say, there's a big surprise waiting for you all in that chapter. Please leave your lovely reviews and I'll see you all next week for the next instalment of Faron's journey.
For the translation in this chapter, there isn't really a translation for what Gimli says to Balin, but I can only imagine it to be something like he hopes Balin has been welcomed into Mahal's Halls and hoping he has found peace.