There were few people that Thorin Oakenshield trusted. He trusted his kin, but that was it. After losing the Lonely Mountain, the dwarves of Erebor were looked down upon by many races of Middle Earth and elves had a special place of distrust in Thor...
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Oreliell ran down the halls as quickly as her feet would allow. She had left the others behind, only hearing them faintly calling her name. She hadn't even bothered to speak to the guard standing at the entrance. She only had one thing in mind: her sister.
She took the stairs multiple at a time. The corridors got darker the further down she went. There were torches lining the walls, but they became less frequent the deeper into the mountain she went. She willed her eyes to adjust quicker to the darkness.
"Vedis!" she called. "Muinthel! Answer me!"
Her voice merely echoed through the stone halls. She huffed in frustration, slamming her hand against a cell door.
The dungeons were a series of twists and turns with various sets of stairs and landings, meant for confusing prisoners if they somehow managed to escape. The cells were spaced apart from one another, more than those in the Woodland Realm had been. A majority of the torches were lit, but only toward the top half of the dungeon. From her understanding, the lower levels rarely got used and therefore the torches typically remained untouched. However, there were still a few lit in the lower levels.
Oreliell slowed to a stop. Her eyes darted around, searching for any sign of life, but all she saw was stone and iron reflecting in the dim fire light. She ran a hand through her hair in frustration. After a long moment, she forced herself to take a deep breath. She closed her eyes and focused on the sounds around her. She could hear dwarves in the upper levels, talking in hurried voices as they journeyed toward her. She tuned them out, focusing on the sounds around her.
"Come on, Vedis. Answer me. Where are you?"
A low groan caught her attention. At first she thought she had imagined it, that it was only a sound conjured by her wishful thinking in her mind.
But then it came again.
Oreliell turned quickly, eyes darting to one of the cells down the next small set of stairs. She stepped forward to look through the metal bars.
Oreliell gasped.
"Vedis!"
Further back in the cell, slumped against the wall, lay a tall figure. Oreliell pulled at the door, cursing when it wouldn't budge. She ran her fingers over the lock, glaring when she noticed small black markings. She took her dagger from her belt, gave it a slight twirl between her fingers, before jamming it into the lock. The mechanism groaned loudly at her force. Oreliell twisted the blade quickly before stabbing it in deeper, putting her weight into the jab. The metal shook and then moved as the markings fizzled out.
Oreliell ripped open the door and raced inside. She knelt down and touched Vedis's face. Vedis's skin was pale, her blond hair having lost its normal shine. Her wrists were bound and there was a bruise forming on her temple.
"Muinthel," Oreliell said, her voice low. "Vedis, I'm here now. Can you hear me? All will be well."
She shook Vedis, trying to get her to open her eyes. She tried not to panic when Vedis did not first respond, but released the breath she was holding when Vedis groaned again.
"Oreliell!"
"Here, Thorin! I found her!" She placed her hand on Vedis's face, trying to coax her awake. "Vedis, please. Give me a sign, muinthel."
Oreliell felt a tugging on her mind. She reached for it, trying to grasp on to the feeling.
"-liell?"
"Yes. Yes, Vedis, I'm here. Everything is all right now. I have you. But I need you to wake up."
Oreliell watched Vedis's face scrunch up slightly, another moan rumbling from her throat. Behind her, she could hear Thorin arrive with a small group of dwarves.
"How is she?" Thorin asked, standing at the door to the cell.
Oreliell took a minute to really look her sister over. Her skin seemed more ashen and her hair was a crumpled, dirty mess. Her wrists were chained together, the skin beneath red and tender looking. Every small detail made Oreliell's heart sink and her blood boil. But what really caught her attention was the dark coloring to her hair. Oreliell touched it, only to discover that it was dried blood. She tilted Vedis's head to try and rouse her more.
"She is alive," Oreliell said. "We need to get her up to the study."
Oreliell helped Vedis to her feet, steadying her when she nearly toppled. Thorin stepped forward to help steady her.
"Steady, muinthel," Oreliell said. "We're getting you out."
"Where is the key?" Thorin called to the dwarves outside.
"No." Oreliell looked at her sister upon hearing her voice in her mind. Her speech was slow, like each word was a struggle. "The key will not work. Morfaroth. Guldur."
Oreliell cursed.
"A key will be no good to us, Thorin," she said. "These chains are made with dark magic. A product of Baralin's magic."
"Then how do we break them?"
Oreliell pulled her dagger out again. She lifted Vedis's hands and slid the blade between the links of the chains. With a quick, sharp movement, she managed to separate the cuffs. Vedis's hands were at least separated, but the cuffs remained in place.
"That will have to do, for now," Oreliell said. "We need to move."
