Disclaimer: I have no creative rights over the characters and places you can identify in this story and have no way profited from this work.
21/12/2012
For what it's worth, I extend my sincere condolences to all those affected by the Newtown mass shooting. IMHO one of the great themes of Lord of the Rings is that in times of crisis or tragedy, our common humanity should outweigh national boundaries.
As a number of reviewers have asked, I assure readers that the Hulk shall be unleashed on Middle-earth. I just have to get the timing right.
gunman: Thanks very much for pointing out the typo! I meant no disrespect to Black Widow and have corrected it accordingly.
Prettyopal26: Any humour in this story is observational based especially how the three Avengers react to Middle-earth and those they meet on their travels there. A few more opportunities of this to arise I am sure.
Brad W: I agree a fully powered Hulk v Balrog smackdown would be pretty cool!
Chapter 8 – The Darkness of Moria
Gandalf advised the Fellowship that it was a four-day journey to the other side of Moria. The Fellowship had found two disused pitch torches for a light source in addition to the crystal on Gandalf's staff. Banner carried one in the middle of the Fellowship while Boromir, who was stationed at the rear, carried the other.
After their encounter with the Watcher and the remains in Moria's Threshold, the Fellowship took very seriously Gandalf's advice to remain quiet as possible. So far they had not encountered either friends or foes. They had hoped this would remain the case until they had left these dark mines. The one exception was Gimli who privately hoped that maybe his cousin had survived the goblin's assault and remained secure in some hidden location.
The further the Fellowship ventured into Moria, the more Banner considered it to be unlike any mine he had known. Banner knew enough about mine engineering that underground mines in Earth's modern world were usually a series of horizontal stopes accessed by a vertical shaft or spiral decline. Moria had crude pulleys and mine workings. But its structure also contained stone passageways, steep stairways, and rooms and halls covered with intricate carvings. The often-narrow pathways the Fellowship used traversed over very deep pits in areas. The pathway the Fellowship was currently on ran alongside a stope wall to its left and the edge of a deep pit to its right. Banner noticed white and silver specks on the stope wall by the pale orange light flickering from the torch he carried.
"What did the dwarves mine here, Gandalf?" he quietly asked the wizard who was a few yards ahead at the front of the column.
"The wealth of Moria, Bruce, was not in gold or jewels but mithril," Gandalf answered before shining the light on his staff down the pit to the Fellowship's right.
The whole Fellowship could see what appeared to be the remains of large veins of mithril reflecting a silver colour in response to Gandalf's light.
Banner wondered if there were any books on Middle-earth geology before asking, "Sorry, Gandalf. But what's 'mithril'? We don't have any metal called that on Earth."
"Bruce, my lad," Gimli said welcoming the opportunity to turn his thoughts away from his dead kindred the Fellowship found earlier. "Here in Middle-earth there's no metal more greatly prized to behold or to be crafted." With typical Dwarvish enthusiasm for all things metalworking he further explained, "Mithril can be polished like glass and its beauty does not tarnish like common silver. It can also be beaten like copper and crafted into armour that can withstand any blow. Even one, I think, from Odinson's hammer".
Thor gave a good-natured reply. "I would welcome the opportunity to test your claim, Gimli".
"You may not get such an opportunity, Thor," Gandalf responded in similar manner. "Mithril armour is especially hard to find these days. In fact, the last piece I can remember seeing was a coat of mithril rings that a great Dwarf king named 'Thorin' presented to Bilbo decades ago."
"That was a kingly gift!" Gimli remarked impressed.
"Yes," Gandalf agreed. "I did not tell Bilbo that its worth was greater than the value of the Shire."
Despite Banner's earlier observation about his creeping use of sarcasm, Rogers thought Gandalf's comment was too good to pass up on.
"One of our fellow Avengers has a similarly expensive suit of armour," he wryly observed.
The remark elicited a chuckle from Banner and Thor. They both knew which absent Avenger that Captain America was referring to.
The Fellowship had come to a halt in its travels. They had come to a landing at the top of some winding stairs in which there were three separate doorways that each marked the entrance of a different tunnel. Gandalf advised the Fellowship that he "Had no memory of this place." The only other Fellowship member who had been to Moria, Aragorn, had no memory of the three doorways either. Gandalf had perched himself cross-legged on a rock in front of the doorways pondering which one the Fellowship should take. Except for Frodo who was sitting close to Gandalf, the rest of Fellowship was sitting on the steps while they waited for the wizard's memory to come back to him.
Some members of the Fellowship smoked their pipes while every one of them could hear Pippin whispering to Merry fretting how hungry he was. Thor was sitting next to Gimli on one of the stairs.
"I apologise, Thor, for my foolish earlier optimism about Khazad-dum," Gimli privately told him.
"You need not to apologise to me for anything, my friend," Thor replied. "You could not have known what fate has befallen these mines."
Gimli nodded before continuing. "Along with my father, my cousin Balin was on the adventure where Master Bilbo received his mithril coat. Being a mere lad of sixty or so, I couldn't have joined them. But I loved the stories they used to tell about it. When we came here, I hoped Balin could have told them to you and the others. But now…"
"If we don't find your cousin, you shall have to tell me his stories in his stead," Thor tried to comfort Gimli. "Hopefully over a few mugs of the fine Dwarven ale that you keep mentioning."
Gimli gave a small smile in return. "You may pass out from all the ale you consume before I finish telling them, Odinson."
Thor's eyes twinkled in response. "If you're suggesting that I pass out easily from drinking, then that shall be the second challenge of yours I'm ready to meet, Master Dwarf."
Thor, Gimli and the rest of the Fellowship were interrupted by a cry of acknowledgment from Gandalf.
"It's that way!" the Grey Wizard said pointing his head to one of the doorways.
"He's remembered," Merry commented to the Fellowship.
"No," Gandalf replied. "But the air doesn't smell so foul down here". He then bent over the Merry who was now standing beside him. "If in doubt, Meriadoc, always follow your nose."
The Fellowship followed Gandalf down a narrow stairway until exited into seemingly another large cavern.
"Let me risk a little more light," Gandalf murmured as he held up his staff to shine its light into the cavern even further. "Behold the great realm and dwarf city of Dwarrowdelf."
The Avengers caught their breath along with the rest of the Fellowship at what they saw. Whereas they were horrified when Gandalf's staff revealed the massacre by the Doors of Durin, they were in awe of what his staff revealed now. They saw an enormous stone hall supported by ornate columns that stretched up as far as the eye could see. Gandalf told the Fellowship this wondrous structure was known as the 'Twenty-First Hall' by the dwarves who dwelt in Khazad-dum.
Each of the three Avengers thoughts struggled to catch up to what their eyes saw. Rogers thought the New York Subway was an underground engineering marvel in his time but the Subway did not have the intricate stonework and carvings that this hall had. Given the conjecture over how long it took ancient peoples to build monuments like the Pyramids of Giza, Stonehenge and Angkor Wat, Banner wondered how long it took Gimli's people to build this hall. Thor believed that such a magnificent structure would not be unworthy of standing within the bounds of Asgard.
Sam spoke for the whole Fellowship when he remarked at the sight before them, "That's an eye opener make no mistake".
As the Fellowship continued its journey through the Twenty-First Hall they eventually came across a set of double doors to their right. Two wooden doors were pushed opened and revealed a room that had a beam of sunlight streaming through its back wall through a small shaft. Gimli gasped when he noticed something in the middle of the room and began running towards it. Gandalf called out his name but Gimli could not be dissuaded to stop. The rest of the Fellowship walked quickly to follow Gimli.
As the Fellowship passed through the doors Gandalf turned to see dwarven runes marked over the doorway they had just entered.
"This is the Chamber of Mazarbul, Khazad-dum's chamber of records," he remarked to the rest of the Fellowship with the exception of Gimli.
Gimli was kneeling at what appeared to be a stone altar or sarcophagus. As the rest of the Fellowship joined him, Rogers noted that the Chamber widened out from the doorway into a large square shaped room. There were steps leading up to ledges that ran along the lengths of both sidewalls. On these ledges were what looked to be old bookcases whose contents had long been ransacked probably by the 'goblins' Legolas mentioned earlier. Most disturbing were the dwarven skeletons spread about the room, including one that had been left perched sitting on a small well in the back of the Chamber.
Gandalf studied the dwarven runes on the stone object that Gimli was kneeling before.
"Here lies Balin, Son of Fundin, Lord of Moria," Gandalf interpreted them for the whole Fellowship aloud. "He is dead then it's as I feared."
Gimli let out a sorrowful moan as Gandalf confirmed what had happened to his cousin who came here thirty years earlier. As he begun to mumble some prayers in Dwarvish, Boromir in placed a hand on Gimli's shoulder as a show of comfort and support.
Gandalf had noticed a thick tome being held by a skeleton leaning against Balin's Tomb, presumably the tome's author in life. Gandalf handed his hat and staff to Pippin so he could remove the tome from the skeletal grasp of its owner. He blew the accumulated dust off the tome's cover before carefully turning its pages of parchment.
Standing between Thor and Aragorn, Legolas whispered to both of them, "We must move on. We cannot linger."
Thor knew Legolas was right. But by the same token, Gimli deserved what on Midgard was called 'closure' in relation to his dead cousin. He remembered the Midgard peoples euphoria at the Avengers' victory over the Chitauri was tempered by their grief over the countless casualties the invasion had caused. Loki had once requested books to read during his current confinement. The only materials the All-Father was willing to provide were the details of all the humans killed during the Chitauri invasion, including those by Loki's own hand. Thor held the slim hope that Loki felt some tiny remorse for his actions as one of his reasons for rejecting Odin's offer.
Gandalf began reading aloud from the tome. "They have taken the Bridge and the Second Hall. We have barred the gates but cannot hold them for long. The ground shakes. Drums. Drums in the Deep."
Gandalf's reading of the account was making Rogers nervous along with other members of the Fellowship. He appreciated that Gandalf was trying to honour the fallen Dwarves by retelling the story of their last moments. But if the Fellowship did not resume its journey soon, and if goblins were still about, they may soon have to record a last stand of their own.
Holding Gandalf's staff and hat, Pippin tried to tune out what Gandalf was reading. Due to the peaceful life the Shire had afforded him, he could not imagine how horrible it must have been for Gimli's kin to be trapped in this room awaiting their doom. Pippin tried to distract himself by the skeleton sitting on the well at the back of the Chamber. Apart from an arrow lodged in its ribcage, the skeleton seemed to be holding the well's heavy-chained bucket. Pippin slowly walked towards the skeleton, trying to figure out how it sat on the well's edge despite the weight it carried. His back turned, Gandalf remained oblivious of Pippin's actions.
"A shadow moves in the dark," the Wizard continued his narration. "We cannot get out." He came to what appeared to be the last entry in the tome. It had been hastily scrawled down on the page, along with some drops of what presumably was the author's blood. "They are coming."
As Gandalf finished reading the ominous sounding words, Rogers looked over the wizard's shoulder. He saw Pippin, seemingly lost in morbid curiosity, reaching to pull the arrow stuck in the skeleton sitting on the well.
"No, Pippin!" Rogers audibly warned.
It was too late. Pippin touched the arrow's fletching that resulted in the victim's skull disconnect from the rest of its remains and clatter down the now apparent deep well. The rest of the Fellowship spun to look in Pippin's direction. Seemingly wanting to remain connected with its head; the rest of the skeleton tumbled back into the well, dragging the bucket chain also. An almighty echo resounded throughout the Chamber as the dwarf's remains unceremoniously hit the bottom of the well.
The majority of the Fellowship breathed a sigh of relief, having been startled by the original sound that Pippin had unintentionally caused. Gandalf put down the tome and gave the Hobbit a withering look.
"Fool of a Took!" he growled at Pippin as he snatched his hat and staff back from him. "Throw yourself in next time and rid us of your stupidity!"
Pippin was saved from a further tongue lashing by a loud rhythmic pounding that seemed to come from out of the well that echoed throughout the Chamber. The Fellowship also heard the pounding sound come through the Chamber's entrance. Banner hazarded a guess as to the cause of the pounding.
"Drums in the Deep," he repeated what Gandalf had just read.
The echoes of numerous high-pitched screeches and howls quickly followed the pounding of drums.
Looking at Frodo's scabbard, Sam gasped, "Frodo."
The Avengers were taken back when Frodo withdrew Sting to reveal its blade glowing light blue. Legolas, who was listening to the screeches to determine their source, answered the mystery in one word.
"Orcs!" he proclaimed.
"Get back, and stay close to Gandalf!" Aragorn ordered the four hobbits.
Gandalf discarded his hat on the floor and gathered the Hobbits behind him - even assuring Pippin that he wasn't still angry with him. The four of them followed Gandalf's example in drawing their swords. Banner, who was next to the Hobbits, began looking around for a weapon as he had long rid himself of the orc spear he had used a few days ago.
Rogers followed Boromir in running to the Chamber doors to get a visual confirmation of what Legolas had heard. Rogers stopped when Boromir suddenly halted, having to let two arrows shot in the direction of his head pass by and embed themselves into the rotting timber of one of the doors.
"Boromir!" Rogers cried with concern for his friend.
"I am fine, Steve," Boromir quickly replied.
The Gondorian noticed that Aragorn had joined them and was carrying some of the Chamber's disused weapons to bar its doors with.
"They have a Cave Troll" he wryly commented, mostly to Aragorn.
Rogers had no knowledge of what a 'Cave Troll' in Middle-earth was. But given Boromir's tone, he was willing to bet it was a lot bigger and meaner opponent than orcs and goblins were. Given the situation, he wasn't game to ask if it was just as bad as a many-tentacled water monster.
After the three men had barred the doors as best they could they ran back to take position with the rest of the Fellowship. As he was about to enter combat, Rogers instinctively pulled his mask down.
"Come, Son of Gloin," Thor said as he helped Gimli to his feet. "Let's honour your cousin by competing over how many orcs we can kill."
"Count me in your competition as well, Prince Thor," Legolas added drawing his bow before looking at Gimli.
Gimli gave the Elven Prince a nod for his show of support. Killing orcs was a far more worthy way to fight for racial honour than trading insults. And what better way to start than in retribution for his fallen kin?
Facing the Chamber doors, the Fellowship arrayed itself in battle order. In the order's front line from left to right stood Rogers, Aragorn, Legolas, Boromir and Thor. Gimli had climbed onto his cousin's tomb and was standing behind Legolas. Behind Rogers and Aragorn were Gandalf, Banner and the Hobbits. The Chamber doors began to sway as the Goblins of Moria sought to break them down to get to the Fellowship.
"Let them come!" Gimli defiantly declared. "There is one dwarf yet in Moria who still draws breath!"
The goblins were soon to find out the Chamber contained more terrible enemies than Dwarves. Banner was still looking for a weapon when the goblins commenced their attack on the door. He stopped when an all too familiar sensation surged throughout his body. Just as the goblins were pounding down the door to get into the Chamber, Banner felt the Other Guy pounding inside his body wanting to get out. He discreetly moved back a couple of steps away from the Hobbits.
One goblin had cut a small hole through one of the doors with its axe. The small hole was all the space that Legolas needed to dispatch it with an arrow launched from its bow. Aragorn was about to release an arrow as well until he was distracted by Merry's cry of "Bruce!"
The Fellowship spun around in Merry's direction. The original members of the Fellowship were staggered to see Banner breaking into spasms, his skin turning green and muscles slowly but painfully tearing through his clothes. Banner fell to his hands and knees.
"Leave him!" Rogers commanded the Hobbits whom, thinking he was having a violent fit, commenced moving towards Banner to help him.
Despite they were likely about to be assaulted by a horde of goblins, as a healer Aragorn could not ignore a man in pain.
"What's wrong with Bruce?" he firmly demanded of Rogers.
"I think you're all about to witness what Bruce calls his 'little party trick'," Rogers dryly replied indicating that the Fellowship should refocus its attention on what was about to burst through the Chamber's doors.
The Chamber doors crashed open and countless goblins came pouring through them. Legolas cut down the first one in the Chamber with an arrow to its eye. Rogers threw his shield. The shield rapidly deflected between the walls either side of the doorway, cutting down numbers of goblins. After catching it on return, Rogers joined Aragorn, Boromir and Thor in the front line of hand-to-hand fighting.
Thor thought these 'Goblins' were smaller in size than the orcs they had encountered previously. Their eyes were larger in size, probably due to the evolution of their species as an apparent underground dwelling race. They did not even seem to talk in an understandable tongue as all their communications appeared to be in clicks and screeches. No matter, their weapons and armour were just as poor as the orcs and they crumpled before Mjolnir's blows just as easily. He was pleased to see Gimli using the height advantage that Balin's Tomb afforded him by taking down a number of goblins with the battle axes he dual wielded.
Aragorn and Rogers combined well in their attacks on the goblins. Rogers stunned them or battered away their attacks with his shield which Aragorn followed up by cutting them down with his two handed sword. Seeing Rogers in action, Aragorn believed his Elven stepbrothers would be indignant if told a Man was their superior in strength and speed.
With a cry, Gandalf attacked the goblins using his staff and trusted sword 'Glamdring'. The hobbits followed his lead by throwing themselves into the battle despite the fear they felt. They were especially driven by their desire to protect Banner who was still going through a series of terrible convulsions.
Two goblins came through the doorway pulling something through it on the end of a chain. That 'thing' was a twelve-foot tall Cave Troll. The troll caused the masonry around the doorway to collapse being too big to fit through it. It carried a large stone hammer in its right hand and announced its arrival into the battle with an ugly bellow.
Thor thought the troll reminded him of the Frost Giants of Jotunheim. Although he had to admit that, despite being some of his most implacable foes, the Giants were not bestial like this troll appeared to be.
"I hope you are as strong as a troll as you appear to be, Thor," Boromir commented to him.
Spotting Sam, the troll brought the full weight of its hammer towards him. The troll assumed that the hobbit would be an easy kill given his small size. Before Sam could dodge the blow, Rogers jumped in front of him.
CLANG!
The sound of the troll's hammer impacting on Roger's shield reverberated around the Chamber. Both goblins and members of the Fellowship flinched at the loud noise, but gritted their teeth and continued their combat despite the noise still ringing in their ears. The force of the troll's blow on his shield caused an airborne Rogers to stumble back a couple of paces on landing. He narrowly avoiding tripping over Sam whom was directly behind him.
"AARRGGGHHH!"
A menacing angry roar from the back of the Chamber promptly ceased all combat within.
I think it's pretty obvious what is about to happen next. Unfortunately as I am changing jobs, I do not think I will be able to write the next chapter before Christmas Day. So please accept my compliments of the season to all of you.
Like me, if you are in a country that has to wait until Boxing Day for its release, I hope you all enjoy The Hobbit – An Unexpected Journey as well.