May it Be | THE LORD OF THE RINGS 🖋

.18. The Deep Dark of Moria

Aragorn's POV

As we walked through the halls of the ancient dwarven city, Gimli suddenly spotted a room he must of been familiar with, ran out in front of the group and headed towards it.

'Gimli!' Gandalf called out after him.

Gandalf, Legolas and I ran in Gimli's direction while Deirdre and Boromir remained close to the hobbits.

Entering the room, Gimli fell to his knees in front of a tomb that lay in the centre of the small space; light from an external source shined down upon the tomb, illuminating the Dwarven runes that were engraved into the stone.

'No, no,' Gimli whaled in despair as he lowered his head in respect, 'No...'

Once everyone had entered the room Gandalf walked up to the tomb and and looked upon the inscription. 

'Here lies Balin, son of Fundin, Lord of Moria,' He translated sadly,  'He is dead then. Its as I feared,' Gandalf removed his hat as he spoke.

'Balin?' Deirdre asked Gandalf, the shock and grief she felt was plain to see in her eyes, 'Surely not!'

'I am afraid, yes...It is so.' Gandalf said before noticing a skeleton lying next to the tomb with a box held tightly in his decaying arms.

As Gandalf retrieved the book and while Gimli cried for his kinsmen, I thought to console Deirdre.

'Did you know the dwarven Lord?' I asked softly.

'No,' she shook her head in sorrow, 'Sadly, I never had the pleasure of such a meeting, but the tale of The Lonely Mountain was always a favourite of mine.'

Before I could response, Legolas approached us, 'We must move on, we cannot linger.'

'I agree,' Deirdre nodded and gave the elf a slight smile.

'They have taken the Bridge and the second hall.' Gandalf's voice echoed off the stone walls as he read from the book, 'We have barred the gates, but cannot hold them for long. The ground shakes. Drums.'

An uneasy feeling settled over us as the wizard told the recount of the day the fallen dwarves died. Pippin seemed the most startled and began walking backwards, moving deeper into the room, as he nervously looked around the dark tomb.

'Drums in the deep. We cannot get out.' Gandalf continued, 'A shadow moves in the dark. We cannot get out. They are coming.'

Pippin found himself with his back against a well which had a corpse sitting upon it. Hesitatingly, Pippin reached out a hand to touch an arrow that the slain dwarf had clutched in his fist before death had taken him. Suddenly, Its head fell backwards and was sent crashing down into the well.

Gandalf turned around swiftly, to stare at the young hobbit, only to witness the rest of the skeleton, and the surrounding chains, follow in the direction of the skull. The pieces of the deceased dwarf bounced off the walls of the well, the sound echoing throughout the deep mines.

Pippin face twisted into a distorted expression as everyone held their breath in fear of detection from whatever creatures that hid in the darkness of Moria. When only silence followed, I took a sigh of relief. 

Gandalf slammed the book shut causing dust to fly from it, 'Fool of a Took! Throw yourself in next time, and rid us of your stupidity!'

'It was but a simple mistake, Mithrandir. Have pity on the lad.' Deirdre said as she approached the hobbit to keep him from Gandalf's wrath. 

Gandalf placed his hat back on his head and held his staff up, 'But my dear Naerwen, how will he then learn?" 

As Gandalf finished speaking the distinct sound of a drum was heard from somewhere off in the distance before becoming frequent and clearly getting louder and closer.