An Unexpected Companion
Chapter 18
Khazad-Dum
A remedy for the darkness:
One-part extract of firefly luminescence
Two parts luna moth wings
The eye of a cat
It worked. But now I see what's in the darkness.
Uncle Henry was right. I should've remained ignorant.
Tiki perched on a stone, legs folded. It was the closest she could get to looking comfortable. Of course, looking comfortable, while the goal, was not actually something she could achieve given the circumstances.
The Fellowship had wandered through Moria for a day and a half. She did hold out a small hope that some of Balin's dwarves survived. That parts of his expedition were living in some small, dark corner of the mines, waiting for rescue. That hope withered with every corpse and every hall of bones they passed. Each body they saw made Tiki wonder how many poor souls met their doom in the dark? How many died on Balin's ill-fated expedition?
Why didn't he listen to me?
Her jaw tensed, teeth grinding. Her fist curled tighter beneath her chin, fingernails digging into her palm. She closed her eyes, forcing a deep breath into her lungs then slowly out her lips. Anger wouldn't help. Not now. Balin and his company of dwarves were gone. She had to accept that. She didn't like it. She wanted nothing more than to stop and mourn yet another lost friend.
Then again, perhaps that is what she was doing now, while the rest of the Fellowship rested and Gandalf pondered the three-pronged fork in the road. She silently stewed. The carefully controlled fury, the storming thoughts of Balin, and how that old fool of a dwarf decided Tiki's warnings, were best left unheeded.
She tucked her chin, strands of her green hair shadowing her eyes, hiding a tear that managed to break free from her eyes.
Why can't I protect any of them?
A slight scraping hit her ears. At first, she wondered if it was one of the other members of the Fellowship squirming where they sat. She wouldn't blame them. Gandalf didn't remember this fork in the road, and he was struggling to decide which way they had to go. If Gandalf, the seemingly all-knowing wizard, didn't know what to do next, what hope did any of them have of knowing what to do? All the sitting ate at Tiki. She needed to move. Needed to push forward. Maybe find where Balin lay and give him a proper funeral, a final goodbye. Gimli needed that closure. She didn't miss the silent sorrow the dwarf stewed in during their march. Perhaps, she needed that as well.
More scraping, soft and quick. Not one of the Fellowship. Only a hobbit would move with such lightness. An elf wouldn't make a sound. Legolas was leaning against the wall, motionless. Merry and Pippin were fidgeting with their rations, but their feet didn't even touch the rocky floor. Frodo sat beside Gandalf. And Sam, he was near Aragorn, the two of them whispering about their favorite plants to grow in a garden.
A scrape then a shuffle. Slowly, Tiki twisted. She looked back, peering into the darkness. Far away, just faint enough to be mistaken for jewels, she saw a pair of luminescent eyes glowing at them, watching. Her heart started, and she uncrossed her legs. Her sudden motion made both Boromir and Morgan tense, and it also caused Aragorn and Sam's conversation to halt. Frodo twisted to see what was going on. He followed Tiki's gaze.
"There's a creature down there," he whispered to Gandalf.
"It's Gollum. He's been following us for three days," Gandalf mumbled. "I'm still trying to piece together how he got in here, but that doesn't matter now."
Gollum? Tiki furrowed her brow. Where had she heard that name before?
Bilbo! That's where. Gollum was the creature he had a game of riddles with. Gollum was the creature Bilbo won the ring from.
Gollum was the reason they were all sitting here.
Tiki's lips curled back into a snarl.
"A pity Bilbo didn't kill him when he had the chance," Frodo huffed.
Tiki nodded. A pity indeed. The cretin gave Bilbo the One Ring. It forced this ill-fated quest upon them all, even if it was by accident or happenstance. She wanted nothing more than to live in a world where Bilbo never found the ring. A world where the ring remained in the deep, dark depths of the Misty Mountains, lost forever.
The least I could get is some recompense for disturbing my hard-earned peace and quiet.
"Pity?" Gandalf replied. "It was pity that stayed Bilbo's hand."
Tiki's burning fury ebbed to embers. She drew back, her chest rising and falling as the gravity of what she was thinking hit her. She was considering murder. What for? It wasn't like Gollum snuck the ring into Bilbo's pocket or forced him to take the infernal thing. He lost it, and Bilbo found it. Fate was what put them at this fork in the road, not Gollum. Bilbo would have known that. Her old friend would have agreed with Gandalf.
"Some that live deserve death. Some that die deserve life. Can you give that to them?"
Tiki sagged in her seat as Gandalf's words smacked her in her heart. She kept her head bowed, wondering if perhaps the old, wise wizard was also speaking to her. He knew how deeply she cared for her friends, and how fiercely she desired to protect them. But could she? The power she sought was something beyond her, and deep down, she knew that. Her lip trembled. Why was it so hard to accept that she couldn't save them all? That she couldn't protect them all? In the end, they were mortal, and so was she. True, they would die before she would, but even if they didn't, if they all lingered alongside her, she would degenerate away until she would only be a snarling, maddened beast. She had seen it before. The fates of mighty Medeus, powerful Duma, and gentle Mila weighed on her heart.
"Never be quick to deal out death in judgment," Gandalf advised Frodo, his words just loud enough for Tiki's sharp ears to hear them. "For even the wisest cannot see all ends."
"I wish the ring had never come to me. I wish none of this had happened."
"So do all who live to see such times, but that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us."
Time. It seemed like such a foreign concept to Tiki. Her eyes closed as she contemplated it. So much time had passed for her. A thousand years felt like a mere century. A century a decade. She had lived twenty lifetimes since her dear friend Marth's passing, and in that time, what had she done? Wars still raged. Peace was fleeting. Good people died. Evil people reigned and then were toppled. New lives were born, and old ones passed, and there she was for all of it, lingering, wandering, settling, then picking up her stakes and moving on again. While she always considered herself to be permanent, nothing else about the world was that way to her.
Not until Robin. When she fell in love with him, that was the first time she thought that maybe it was time to plant roots. Maybe it was time to no longer linger and just live. For a few happy years, that was the case. Then, as in all things, time came, and it took.
Time is cruel. Tiki tucked one knee to her chest, cradling it with her hands, doing her best to not imitate the little Manakete Ban-Ban would often counsel. Does that give me the right to be the same way?
Her contemplation was interrupted when Gandalf let out a surprised sound. "It's that way!" He remarked, pointing at the center of the three tunnels.
Tiki froze and slowly turned her head.
"How do you know?" Merry asked, dumbfounded. "Do you remember?"
"No, but the air smells less foul down this-"
"Gandalf…"
The wizard turned to look at Tiki. Her anger had returned, but it manifested more as frustration.
"I could've told you that two hours ago!"
"We're going off smells now? Shouldn't I be leading then?" Morgan chirped.
"No," Boromir grunted, tugging her back by her shoulder before she could scamper ahead of Gandalf's light.
"Aw, c'mon!"
Gandalf chuckled at both Tiki and Morgan. "Yes, yes, serves me right. When in doubt, follow your nose, and I should've asked for the assistance of the two best earlier. Now, let's keep moving."
Fewer bodies appeared the deeper they delved. The darkness turned blacker somehow. Gandalf's light emanating from the tip of his staff seemed to grow duller as the shadows consumed it. Tiki strained her eyes, fending off the temptation to let a little bit of her more draconic side leak out.
Her ears, however, remained sharp. An echo answered the latest clack of Gandalf's staff. It rang forever, bouncing off invisible walls and pillars. At that moment, Gandalf risked a little more light.
And even Tiki's breath was stolen from her body.
"Behold the great dwarven city of Dwarrowdelf," Gandalf said as his light glowed, revealing gargantuan pillars that held aloft a ceiling even Tiki could not see.
Beside her, Frodo gawked as well, his eyes wide.
"Have you ever seen anything like this?" He whispered.
Tiki shook her head. "No, not even back home. I think the only places that might come close would be the Temple of Naga, or maybe the Ruins of Thabes. But this… this makes me feel small."
She had visited those locations many times in her life, both before and after they fell to ruin. Thabes had been one of the strongholds of Gharnef, a figure that she would rather not think about. As for the Temple of Naga, she recalled its splendor when it had been a young monument to the Divine Dragon. It towered over the lands of Archanea upon its wintry peak in the Eastern Mountains of Ylisse. The stairway, when it was well kept, boasted seamless stone steps without a crack in them. Pilgrims from all around the world flocked to pay homage to the Divine Dragon there, and Tiki met with some of them as the Voice. But, even the Temple she had called home for a few centuries pale to the gargantuan magnificence towering around her.
"How many shovels do you think it took?" Morgan chirped.
For the first time in the darkness, Gimli snorted out a laugh. "More than shovels, young one. Picks, axes, drills, mighty machinery no doubt. The work of my forefathers, and their forefathers before them. Khazad-Dum was mighty in its day, and there was no kingdom in all the realms of Elves or Men that was greater, except perhaps those of the first age."
"Gondolin," Legolas nodded.
"There was that one, yes," Gimli mumbled. "Elves always have to get the upper hand."
Further, they walked, until for the first time, Tiki blinked. She spotted a beam of sunlight shining from the towering ceiling into a small alcove. There, another cluster of corpses and bones littered the floor. When Gimli saw it, he rushed over there. And, upon reaching it, he uttered a mournful sound and dropped to his knees before a marble tomb.
Tiki's ears fell and her shoulders dropped. She already knew what this place was before Gandalf even began to read the Khuzdul inscription on the stone slab.
"Here lies Balin, Son of Fundi, Lord of Moria. He is dead then. It is as I feared."
Tiki brushed past Gandalf and Gimli. Her dwarven companion howled, his grief finally getting the better of him as the finality of all the death drove home. She brushed her hand along the marble slab, grimacing at the dust caking beneath her fingertips. When she reached the head of the tomb, she closed her eyes and drew in a deep breath. The lingering smell of dried blood and cracked marrow filled her nose. She did not wrinkle it. She let it linger.
Never forget it.
She recalled her last interaction with Balin at Bilbo's party. He had begged her to come with him to liberate Moria. She warned him against it, and at the time, she prayed he heeded his warning. She should've known that even wise, old Balin shared the same stubbornness that plagued all dwarves. He pushed onward, confident he could salvage the ancestral home of his people. That confidence dug his grave.
A bitter sound slipped from Tiki's lips as her hand slipped from the sunbeam-lit coffin. That's when a hand brushed against hers. Morgan was beside her. She lacked her usual smile.
"Was he your friend?" She asked.
Tiki swallowed hard. "Yes. He was. And so was Ori, and Oin, and many of the others who joined him in his expedition."
Morgan's ears wilted. "You're not crying like Gimli."
Tiki let out a strangled sound. "Indeed, I'm not."
"Why not?"
Tiki sniffed. "I suppose I'm just used to it now." She flicked her eyes to Gandalf. He wore an equally sorrowful expression, but his attention no longer lingered on Balin's tomb. It shifted to a leatherbound book clutched in the skeletal grasp of a dwarven corpse. He pulled it away, blew off the dust, then opened it to its final pages.
"They have taken the bridge and the second hall. We have barred the gates, but cannot hold them for long." He read. Tiki squeezed her eyes shut. She could feel the fear the dwarves must have felt.
"The ground shakes. Drums… drums, in the deep."
Tiki cracked her eyes open. Across the room, near the gates of the tomb, she spotted a torn, dusty banner. A tear finally trailed down her cheek when she saw an Emerald Dragon on a black field. Even in their last moments, the dwarves of Erebor clung to the symbol that gave them hope and courage.
"We cannot get out. A shadow moves in the dark."
Her eyes closed. No more, Gandalf. Please.
"We cannot get out… they are coming."
Tiki's ears snapped rigid when she heard a loud clatter and bang. Chains rattled through the air, scraping against stone. Her gaze whipped to the source, where she saw Peregrin Took standing still, looking petrified as a dwarf corpse attached by a chain to a bucket plummeted through a well. The echoing rang on forever. Bang, bang, bang. All eyes were on the poor hobbit. Gandalf slammed the book shut.
"Fool of a Took! Throw yourself in next time and rid us of your stupidity."
Boom.
For a moment, Tiki wondered if that deep sound came from the corpse hitting the bottom of the well.
Boom.
Only for it to be answered not by an echo, but by another thunderous noise. The booms grew louder, faster. Tiki's eyes sharpened. She pulled her hand from Morgan's and rushed to the door alongside Boromir. When they reached it, yips, howls, and snarls rang through the darkness of Dwarrowdelf. All sorrow left Tiki. Rage filled her.
"Orcs!" Legolas cried.
Tiki heard the snap of bowstrings. With one hand, she shoved Boromir back into the room. Two arrows zipped past her head, causing some of her emerald hair to flutter up as they thudded into the wooden doors beside her. She didn't flinch. She only snarled, grasped the door, and pulled it closed. Aragorn closed the other. Boromir moved to bar them with discarded axes and polearms.
"Let them come!" Gimli cried. "There is still one dwarf in Moria who still draws breath!"
Tiki glided back. She stood shoulder to shoulder with Legolas and Aragorn, who had drawn their bows and pointed them at the gate. Boromir hefted his shield and sword. Gimli stood upon Balin's grave, two axes in hand, and a vicious snarl on his lips. The Hobbits stood behind them, clinging to Gandalf as the wizard tossed his hat and coat aside. Morgan hovered near the head of the tomb, unsure of what to do, her head whipping between the exit behind them and the gate that shuddered in front of them.
Cracks appeared. Tiki bared her teeth, letting fangs appear. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Boromir's eyes briefly widen before his focus was forced back to the orcs breaking through the door.
A gap opened. Legolas fired, and an orc cried out as it died. Another gap. Aragorn fired. Another dead orc.
Then the gate gave away, and Tiki unleashed.
Twin gouts of flame erupted from her hands, incinerating the column of orcs that burst into the room. Nothing but ashes remained as her flames devoured flesh and bone. They even claimed the sturdy wooden doors, lighting them up like a great pyre. Smoke rose in the air. When that scent choked her, Tiki relented, realizing a fatal flaw in her plan to burn them all.
Her friends still needed to breathe!
"Back up!" Aragorn cried, coughing, the smoke stinging his lungs and eyes.
"To the bridge of Khazad-Dum!" Gandalf exclaimed, using his sleeve to shield his face. He hurried the hobbits along.
Legolas and Aragorn grabbed Gimli by the shoulders and hauled him away kicking and frothing at the mouth for vengeance. Boromir hesitated, but Tiki glanced at him, then at Morgan.
"I'll buy you time. Go!"
A shrill roar echoed ahead. Cave troll. Boromir knew the sound, because he paled, and he did not argue. He spun Morgan, who protested, but followed as he shoved her through the small gap in the back of the room.
Gandalf's white light faded, and the burning embers of Tiki's wrath remained. The orcs hesitated to enter now. When one did, Tiki would lash out with a whip of wind. Another one tested her, and she uttered a deep snarl, severing its head with another slash of wind magic. Finally, the cave troll burst through. It sneered at her, expecting to intimidate another small prey.
Little did it know, it and the other orcs that populated this room were the prey.
Tiki growled, fangs cutting into her lips as she conjured white-hot fire within her maw. With a roar that shook the pillars of the room, she unleashed on the cave troll. The beast screamed and screeched. It tried to reach her with a hand, but all it managed to do was to swiften its own demise. Right as its massive hand was about to grasp her, the troll collapsed, its skin charred to coal.
None shall desecrate the grave of my friend!
Arrows followed. One clipped Tiki's cheek, drawing blood. She bought all the time she could. Already, she could feel weariness starting to grow.
I need to reach the others. I need to be with them when they get to the bridge.
Tiki's steps faltered as she passed through the gap. She saw Gandalf's light flickering beyond, amid a sea of goblins and orcs that swarmed like ants. The orcs did not look like creatures to her. They looked like insects. Monstrosities scuttled down from the ceiling along the pillars of Khazad-Dum and scampered across the ground searching for flesh to devour. Like ants, there were too many to count. So many, that she found herself daring to reach for the cracked gemstone in her pouch.
Power thrummed through her fingertips when she touched it. She closed her eyes, relishing in the sensation. It felt like she was feeling the touch of an old friend again. Like a warm hug, only it squeezed ever tighter as the temptation grew. Necessity demanded she take the risk. Her friends' lives were in jeopardy. They needed to reach-
Her eyes shot wide as a horrible realization hit her.
The Bridge… and the Eastern Gate.
She had been here before. She fled over that same bridge when she was separated from Thorin's company during the quest to rid Erebor of Smaug. There, she encountered Durin's Bane. She trapped it in Khazad-Dum by collapsing the gate behind her. A pit yawned wide within her heart.
I've doomed us!
"No!"
She sprinted toward the growing mass of orcs surrounding her friends. Several of the beasts noticed her and rushed to cut her off. She blasted them away with wind, fire, and thunder. A few arrows skipped across the stone beneath her feet, nipping at her heels. She was not deterred. Her hand gripped her stone harder, and she drew in a deep breath, preparing herself for a transformation she had not undergone in over eighty years.
A wall of orcs blocked her path. They locked shields and pointed their spears at her. The line behind them raised jagged blades and axes as they licked their rotten teeth, ready for the kill. Power rushed through her. Every movement became easier. Sharper. Powerful. She was ready now.
BOOM!
The orc line staggered. Tiki skidded to a halt mere feet away from them and her friends. She could see Morgan standing with her back to Boromir, one hand holding open her spellbook while the other had a fireball at the ready. She locked eyes with her daughter. Yet another reason to take the risk.
BOOM!
The orcs and goblins screamed. Tiki sniffed the air. The rancid stench of sulfur invaded her nostrils. The enemy screamed, then scattered as fast as they had appeared, clambering up the pillars and back into the shadows, leaving the grand city of the dwarves empty except for the Fellowship…
… and a growing, red light within a nearby corridor.
Tiki's hair stood on end. She drifted backward as she looked at the growing crimson glow, watching as tendrils of dark shadow crawled in its wake, followed closely by fire. Her eyes widened, and her hand fell away from her dragonstone.
"What manner of devilry is this?" Boromir whispered to Gandalf. Even the mighty warrior from Gondor shivered.
Gandalf leaned heavily on his staff. "A balrog…"
"Durin's Bane," Tiki breathed, causing Legolas and Gimli's breath to hitch.
"This foe is beyond any of you. Run!" Gandalf cried.
No one had to be told twice. Every member of the fellowship bolted for the small doorway which led to the Bridge and the lone exit out of Moria. An exit that was blocked by gargantuan stones. They all stopped on a precarious set of stairs when they realized this. Legolas placed his hands on his head in disbelief. He spoke something in elvish rapidly to Gandalf. Gandalf said nothing. He only urged them all onward, onto the stairs.
The earth shook as enormous cloven feet stamped the earth behind the doorway. Tiki brought up the rear of the Fellowship with Gandalf. She dared a glance back, and she spotted the monster of shadow and flame that had terrified her upon falling to these depths eighty years ago.
She whipped her attention back to the others, to Aragorn and Legolas, Gimli, Sam, Merry, and Pippin. Her gaze landed on Frodo and Sam as they were helped down the stairs by Boromir and Morgan. Morgan yelped as another shake of the earth caused her to lose her balance. Boromir wrapped an arm around her waist and then tackled her to the ground, keeping her from plummeting to the abyss below.
Arrows smacked against the steps. Legolas tore his terrified gaze from the shaking wall behind them to the orcs taking potshots from a nearby balcony. He returned fire, claiming several archers even as his footing grew more unstable.
"To the bridge! Fly!" Gandalf cried.
Halfway down the stairs, the wall exploded. The demon, the Balrog, erupted in its wake, rising in a great ring of fire, smoke, and darkness. It opened its maw and roared, shaking the foundations of the mountain and the stairs.
Tiki heard the stones beneath her crack. She watched the stairs crumble. At the lead, Merry and Pippin yelped before plummeting into the darkness. Her heart lurched to her throat when Gimli and Legolas lost their footing next. Aragorn heaved Frodo toward Gandalf and Boromir before falling with Sam. Morgan gasped and clung to Boromir's arm. The Balrog stomped forward. Gandalf raised his staff, casting a magical glow and just barely blocking a titanic blow from the demon's flaming sword.
That blow shattered the rest of the stair's supports. All at once, they fell. Tiki twirled in the air. Her heart raced as she frantically tried to locate the others. She spotted Morgan at the same level as her, then she glanced up and saw Gandalf, Frodo, and Boromir just above them. Below them fell the others. Tiki locked eyes with Morgan. She swallowed her fear. If they were going to survive this, they would have to take a chance on something only Robin would attempt to pull off.
"Dive!" She shouted at Morgan.
"Are you nuts!?"
"We have to get beneath them and then cast our most powerful wind magic we can. Hopefully, with enough upcurrent, we can slow their descent!"
Morgan's eyes widened. "You are nuts! But that is also brilliant!"
Morgan pitched forward and dove, taking to the air as naturally as any Manakete could. Tiki felt a small amount of thrill that surmounted her own fear. She followed her daughter, shooting down into the darkness. They both passed the screaming hobbits, a silent and resigned Legolas, and a flailing Gimli and Aragorn.
Right as they got below them, Tiki spotted a solid wall of darkness beneath her. No, not solid, it moved in ripples. Water.
That's at least a softer landing.
She broke out of her dive, spreading her arms and legs out wide. Morgan mirrored her. They had only seconds now.
"Ready!?"
"Born ready!" Morgan shouted. "No magic circles to focus this one! Time for some chaos!"
Morgan stretched out both hands and unleashed all the magic she could manage. The water rolled in waves beneath her, and the wind whipped upward through Tiki's hair. Tiki gritted her teeth, readied herself for an icy splash, then did the same. More updraft rushed around her, slowing their descent, but it did not feel like enough.
Just a little more!
The black waters churned. Tiki poured every ounce of power she could tap into the last few seconds of her descent. Above her, she swore she saw Gandalf utter thunderous words in a language she did not know, followed by a brilliant glow coming from his staff. Her eyes closed. For the first time in decades, Tiki whispered a prayer to Naga.
She crashed into the icy abyss.
And chapter! It's been a minute, hasn't it? Life's been busy, but I got another chapter ready to go. Hopefully ya'll enjoy it. Let me know what you all think. And, as always, have a nice day!