III: Anno dulu enni!

Thandir and Eluwen stared about them at the deceptively peaceful scene. They had heard Elladan scream and hastened their steps up the rise, but by the time they reached the crest, there was no sign of the twins, only a mother bear ambling into the valley with a bear cub in tow.

"Where are they?" Eluwen cried, looking about almost frantically. "We were no more than a minute behind them. Where could they have disappeared to?"

Thandir shrugged, frowning in frustration. "Let’s separate and see if we can find any trace. Perhaps they are both injured. From where those bears are I would guess the twins encountered nana somewhere around here. Why don’t you go up towards that rock fall and I’ll work my way downward."

So saying, Thandir jumped off the ridge towards the valley, following the bears through meadow grass and pine, staying far back and downwind to them. Eluwen moved back towards the mountain. They dared not call out, for their orders still stood. The search was long and tedious, for the grass was just high enough to hide half an army of orcs. After nearly an hour of searching, both scouts were in a sour mood.

"I could cheerfully drown those two right about now," Thandir stated when he and Eluwen met up again at the point where they had separated. Eluwen silently agreed.

"Let’s try further down the ridge," Eluwen suggested. "Perhaps they got further along than we assume."

Thandir grunted in agreement. They had gone only few hundred feet down the ridge when Eluwen noticed where the grass was still flattened. "Here, Thandir. They ran in this direction."

The scouts loped through the tall grass back towards the mountain. The trail was now more distinct and the scouts quickened their pace. Eluwen was so intent on the trail that she almost didn’t see the hole gaping through the grass before her. Thandir caught her at the last moment and pulled her back.

They stood there looking down in disbelief. It was not a particularly large hole, but it was certainly large enough for a couple of bodies to fall through. There were traces of tree branches that apparently had been placed across the hole, hiding it from view. This was obviously meant to be a trap. The shaft seemed to curve somewhat so that the bottom could not be seen. The sides were smooth and had a finished look to them that was not natural.

"You have got to be kidding me!" Thandir shouted, now in an absolute rage.

Eluwen looked at her husband in surprise. "What?"

"Look about you, Eluwen," Thandir practically snarled, sweeping his arms around, still incensed. Eluwen followed his gestures with her eyes, seeing nothing but mountains, meadows and trees under a blue late-autumn sky. "How do they do it?"

Eluwen wacked Thandir on the chest. "Talk sense, Thandir. What in the name of the Valar are you going on about?"

Thandir looked at his wife, the anger dissipating. In a softer voice he said, "In all this wilderness, how did they manage to find this one hole to fall into?"

Now Eluwen understood why Thandir was feeling so frustrated. She smiled wryly. "Blind luck?"

Thandir snorted, his humor somewhat restored. "More like uncanny luck. Only those two would manage to fall into the only hole for leagues around."

"Well, as to that, beloved, we don’t know if this is the only hole for leagues around. It’s obviously a trap of some kind. I think we should start thinking about what we should do next. They’ve had plenty of time to climb out of there, assuming they weren’t severely injured in the fall."

"And assuming the shaft is climbable. Those walls look unnaturally smooth to me."

Eluwen crouched down for a better look. "Hmmm. I think you’re right. There are chisel marks here. But I don’t think it’s dwarf-work."

Thandir crouched next to her, running his fingers along the lip of the hole. "I agree. Dwarves did not carve this shaft."

"So, who — "

Thandir grimaced as he put an arm around his wife. "I think our twins have fallen into a goblin hole."

****

Elrohir moaned, wishing the dwarves banging on his head would stop long enough for him to get a word in edgewise. He rolled over and opened his eyes, trying to gauge where he was. There was little illumination, but what he could see was not heartening.

He appeared to be in an underground chamber, lying on some broken tree branches. A beam of light filtered down from somewhere above him. The chamber extended beyond the range of the light and the far walls were lost in gloom. From the echoes caused by his moving about, though, he guessed the chamber was not very large. He looked above him and saw where he and Elladan had fallen through. The entrance to the upper world lay perhaps ten feet above, coming down from an angle along one wall. He stood up carefully and made his way to the wall to see if he could climb it. There were toe-holds and finger-holds and he made his way quickly up the wall, but when he reached the shaft itself, he discovered that its sides were smooth and he could not find any purchase.

He eased himself back down to the floor and belatedly remembered his brother. He looked about but saw no sign, yet Elladan had fallen through first.

"Elladan!"

The echoes reverberated loudly in the small chamber.

"Sîdh, muindor nîn." Elladan came walking out of the gloom to Elrohir’s left. "I’ve been exploring our surroundings."

"Why didn’t you wake me?" Elrohir asked accusingly.

Elladan smiled, a teasing light in his eyes. "As to that, you looked so peaceful, I just didn’t have the heart."

Elrohir gave an inarticulate cry and flung himself on his twin, allowing his anger and frustration to take hold. The two of them spent several minutes wrestling before Elladan, always the stronger , managed to pin his brother to the floor. Finally, Elrohir stopped struggling.

"Feeling better?" Elladan asked, sympathetically.

Elrohir sighed and nodded but otherwise did not speak. After another moment, Elladan released his brother, offering a hand to help him up. "I’m sorry, muindor nîn. I actually did try to rouse you but you would have none of it, so I decided to see if there was a way out of here, since that shaft is too smooth to climb."

"Did you find anything?" Elrohir asked, his curiosity outweighing his anger.

Elladan nodded. "Back that way is another opening." He pointed in the direction in which he had come when Elrohir had called out to him. "It’s not particularly large, but we should be able to manage it."

"Where do you think it goes?"

"Only one way to find out, isn’t there?"

"Any idea who might have made that shaft?"

"Dwarves maybe, but I’m not sure. The rest of this chamber is rough-hewn from what I can tell. Certainly not dwarf-work, but let’s face it," he gave Elrohir a wry look, "how much experience with dwarf-work have we actually had?"

Elrohir snorted, but whether in agreement or not, it was hard to say. "Well, standing here isn’t getting us anywhere. Lead on, brother."

Elladan led the way to the opening he had mentioned. It was not overly large, barely chest high to them. They took a couple of minutes to light their tinder and soak some cloth stripped from a spare shirt in what cooking oil they had left. Then they wrapped the strips around several kindling sticks, and lit one of them.

"They’re not going to last," Elrohir cautioned Elladan and his twin nodded.

"We’ll have to hope we find a way out before they’re all used up."

Crouching down, they could see that there was a low passage that curved to the left, so that their view was blocked a few feet ahead of them. Elladan took the torch from Elrohir and, with a meaningful look to his twin, entered the passage, disappearing from view rather quickly. Elrohir took a deep breath before following him.

****

"So what do we do?" asked Eluwen.

They were standing above the shaft looking down into it.

Thandir sighed. "Do we have a choice?"

His wife shook her head. "I’ll go down since I’m lighter."

Thandir nodded and Eluwen took her rucksack off her back and began rummaging around, bringing up a length of hithlain rope, handing it to Thandir, who began to pay it out. The elleth tied one end of the rope about her waist while Thandir held the other end tightly. She also stuck an unlit torch in her belt. Carefully she sat down at the lip of the shaft and allowed Thandir to lower her as slowly as possible. Even so her descent was swifter than she would have liked and in seconds she was hanging above the chamber yelling at Thandir to hold his position. She managed to find a toe-hold and with shouted instructions for Thandir to pay out more of the rope, made her way to the floor. Only then did she take time to notice that there was no sign of Elrond’s sons. She sighed, loosening the rope even as she shouted up to Thandir to tell him what she had found, or rather, not found.

"There are footprints in the dust," she yelled up through the shaft. "I’m going to see where they go. Perhaps they haven’t gotten far."

There was little hope of that. If the twins had not been injured and quickly realized they could not climb the shaft, they would have had more than an hour’s lead on the scouts in exploring the cavern and perhaps finding another way out. Eluwen examined the footprints for a moment and was relieved to learn that there were only two sets, which meant that the twins had left of their own accord. She lit her torch with her flint and steel and then followed the trail to the left. Soon she found the opening. Bending down she thrust the torch into the tunnel beyond and saw how it curved. She moved into the passage to the bend and saw how, at this point, it opened up so an elf could stand. The footprints continued on. Just to be sure, she retraced her steps and took a slow circuit around the rest of the chamber, checking for other openings, but when she returned to the shaft, it was obvious where the twins had gone.

She yelled up at Thandir about her findings.

"There’s nothing for it then," he yelled back. "We’re going to have to follow them. I’m going to gather some materials for more torches and then come down."

It took only minutes for Thandir to tie the other end of the rope to a nearby tree and gather what he needed before joining Eluwen. They decided to leave the rope where it was in the event that they were forced to make a retreat. Making their way to the opening they then preceded to follow the twins into the heart of the mountain.

****

"Well, here’s the last of the torches," Elrohir said as he handed the lit brand to Elladan. "Make it last, Brother."

Elladan smiled thinly. "I’ll do my best."

There was no way to tell how long or how far they had walked. The passage they were in wound its way through the mountain in no discernable pattern. Twice they found themselves in large caverns, untouched by any chisel except that wielded by Time. Slow drips of moisture formed rows of dragon’s teeth around which they carefully maneuvered. In both caverns, after some exploration, they found that there was again only one opening. By the time the final torch was lit they were in yet another cavern, smaller than the last two. Elladan made a circuit around while Elrohir stood before the opening through which they had come. It took only minutes in the guttering light to determine that they now faced a new predicament.

There were three openings here, not including the one from which they had entered the cavern.

"Any suggestions?" Elladan asked his twin when he had reported his findings.

Elrohir shrugged. "Are the openings all the same?"

Elladan shook his head. "Two go straight for a few feet, but then one heads down, the other up. The third passage appears to loop back towards this direction. The air from that one smells somewhat foul. Not stale, mind you, but foul."

"And the other two?"

Elladan paused to think for a moment, trying to remember his feelings about the two other passages. "The passage leading down smells somewhat fresher, but that makes no sense. It should be the passage going up, for that would lead to the surface, would it not?"

"I don’t know," Elrohir admitted, for neither ellon had had any experience with caving. "You might be right. Why don’t we try the passage going up, first? If it doesn’t seem to be going anywhere we can always backtrack and take the other passage."

Elladan nodded and showed his brother the way. The other three passages were actually quite close to one another and both twins held their breath as they passed the entrance with the foul smell. Neither wanted to even guess what might have caused the smell in the first place. The other two passages lay further on and indeed the air in the passage leading down did smell somewhat fresher, but not so much that it enticed them from the third passage. Praying they had made the right decision the twins entered the third passage and began the climb up.

****

"I think we made a mistake, Brother," Elrohir said after they had been walking for what felt like hours but was probably only three quarters of an hour later. They had stopped to rest for a moment.

Elladan merely grunted. By now they were terribly thirsty, but their waterskins were nearly empty so they decided to save what they could in hopes that they would come upon an underground stream or lake where they could replenish their supply.

The passage that had seemed so promising became less so the further along they traveled. After rising for some time the passage dipped suddenly, then began to wind itself in a serpentine manner. At one point the passage met with another coming from an acute angle so they weren’t entirely sure if they were still in the same passage or the other one. At any rate, they were soon lost and any hope of retracing their steps became pointless.

And their last torch was beginning to go out.

"We need to keep going," Elladan finally said. "It’s death for us for sure if we stay here. Moving, we have a chance of winning free of this labyrinth, even if we have to do so in the dark."

Elrohir nodded. "Let’s go then."

They had not taken more than a score of steps when a foul stench assaulted their noses and they both started gagging. A raucous cry came from behind them and to their right where yet another passage intersected the one they were in, a passage neither had noticed. Before either could react they found themselves being attacked.

"Yrch!" Elladan yelled.

They both tried to draw their swords but were too late. The hoard of goblins fell upon them with shrieks of glee and hatred and carried them to the floor. What the goblins did to them then was done in the dark.

****

Thandir and Eluwen stared at the three passages in dismay. The twins’ footprints were easily discernible in the torchlight going up the lefthand passage.

"Tell me they didn’t go up instead of down?" Eluwen asked rhetorically. She wrinkled her nose waving a hand towards the passage on their right. "That smell...."

Thandir merely snorted. "Yrch, or I’m a dwarf."

Eluwen sighed, rubbing a hand across her eyes. "They must have thought that since this passage went up it would lead to the surface. They should have followed their noses, instead."

Thandir shrugged resignedly. "They’re young and have had no experience traveling underground. When we get back to Imladris, I will suggest to Lord Elrond that perhaps that aspect of their education might have been inadvertently neglected in favor of other pursuits."

Eluwen gave her beloved a wry look. "My, we are the diplomat today, aren’t we?"

Her beloved smiled and planted a kiss on her forehead. "Let’s see if we can catch up with the twins."

"How are we going to explain our presence to them when we do?"

"I’m sure you’ll think of something."

"I’ll think of something?" Eluwen asked in disbelief. "If I’m not mistaken, meleth, you’re the leader of this expedition. I believe coming up with excuses is your department."

"Normally, it would be, but as leader I’m delegating the task to you," Thandir rejoined, a wicked gleam in his eyes.

Eluwen muttered something under her breath, but Thandir heard it anyway and laughed, taking his wife in his arms and giving her a long and delightful kiss before releasing her, much to her disappointment. "Come, we need to find the twins. Time enough to think up excuses later."

With that, they began following the footprints, hoping there would be no encounters with goblins along the way.

****

They stared at the churned ground around them. Thandir was kneeling in the dust, examining the prints closely. Eluwen was crouched somewhat to one side, examining a darkish spot on a rock.

"There’s blood here, Thandir," she said, dipping her fingers in the wet and taking a cautious lick. "Elf blood to be exact."

Thandir grimaced, not liking the conclusions to which he was coming. "It’s difficult to know how long ago the attack was, but I would guess not more than an hour or two. It looks as if they were attacked from two sides."

He stood up and moved back along their trail. "See, one group of goblins came from behind, apparently emerging from this crevasse here." He thrust his torch into a gaping hole, small and narrow and most likely ignored or unnoticed by the twins, but wide enough for goblins to squeeze through.

"Another band came down this passage over there." He thrust the torch to the right. The side passage came down to meet the main one.

"They don’t go back the same way, though," Eluwen pointed out. "They continue down this passage."

Thandir nodded, his eyes cold in the torchlight, cold and grim, with a fey light flickering in their depths. Eluwen knew that look. She shivered slightly, remembering that her beloved was a Noldo who had fought against Morgoth’s hoards during the First Age. For all that he had quickly adopted Sindarin and Silvan ways when he came to Middle-earth in Fingolfin’s company, he was still one of the Lechenn, one of the deep-elves, with an implacable hatred of the Enemy’s minions. Thandir had stood under the Light of the Two Trees and that heritage was reflected in his eyes.

She, on the other hand, was pure Sinda and had not been born until after the War of Wrath. Her parents left Lindon to follow Oropher eastward and for a time she grew up in Eryn Galen. When Gil-galad called for the Last Alliance, she had joined the troops led by Oropher. On the Battle Plain before the Black Gates, she had met Thandir, fighting under Elrond’s flag. In spite of all the horror and pain and death surrounding them, they had fallen in love. After the war she forsook Eryn Galen for Imladris, much to her parents’ dismay, but she had never had any regrets.

"Come," Thandir said, his voice as grim as his looks. "We’re wasting time."

Eluwen instinctively took his hand and her husband did not deny her. Together they walked down the passage, following the prints that would hopefully lead them to their missing charges.

****

They had been following the goblin prints for some time. At one point the prints veered to the left where a set of stairs spiraled down into the nether depths. The scouts viewed them with surprise and dismay but did not hesitate to descend them. At the bottom the space opened up. To the wonder of the elves they found themselves in a large chamber. Carven pillars supported the roof high above them and the floor was free of dust though the chamber appeared to be empty and they could not guess at its purpose, if it even had one. Across the way from them was an actual door made of thick oak. When they tried it though it did not move and they suspected it was barred from the other side. However, they soon discovered another opening in the wall to the right of the door, a gaping hole that had obviously been made by goblins. An irregularly shaped passage could be seen in the flickering torchlight behind the tumble of fallen rocks surrounding the breach. The scouts had no doubt where the goblins had gone.

They entered the passage but no sooner had they done so when Thandir put a hand out in warning and stopped.

"Listen!"

Both elves strained their hearing. Eluwen moved back into the chamber and went to the door, placing her ear against the wood.

"Footsteps. Lots of them," Eluwen whispered to Thandir, who had followed her. "And heading our way."

The ellon copied the elleth and listened at the door. "Dwarves by the sound of it. It’s too regular and heavy for goblins."

"Do they come here, do you think?" Eluwen asked but Thandir shook his head, having no answer.

He motioned Eluwen back towards the goblin-breached hole. They moved up the passage a bit to where it zig-zagged, providing them with some cover. They doused their torches and strung their bows in the dark with practiced ease, placing arrows at the ready, then waited.

They did not have long to wait. The tread of the steps stopped and they heard something heavy being moved. Then, the door was thrust open with a boom as it crashed against the wall and the darkness was brightened into a reddish glow as several dwarves entered the chamber carrying torches. It took only a minute for the elves to realize that the dwarves were heading their way and that there was no place to hide.

In the dim glow of the approaching torchlight, Thandir whispered just loudly enough for Eluwen to hear without setting off echos.

"Stand at the ready, love, but don’t shoot anybody. We are, after all, the intruders, not they."

Eluwen allowed herself a small snort but otherwise made no other sound.

The passage was too narrow at this juncture for any more than one person at a time to pass through, though further on it did widen considerably, so the elves could have defended themselves had they the need, at least until they had run out of arrows. Thandir hoped that they wouldn’t have to fight at all and that they might be able to solicit the aid of the dwarves in rescuing the twins.

The first dwarf came nearly abreast of them before he saw the two elves with their arrows aimed at him.

"Mahal!" The dwarf raised his axe, stopping suddenly, bringing the company behind him to a halt. There was a murmur of confusion among the dwarves that was quickly stilled.

Thandir lowered his bow and Eluwen did the same. "Peace, friend. We mean you no harm. I am Thandir, a scout from Imladris. This is Eluwen."

The dwarf continued staring at the elves for a moment before replying, his tone suspicious "What do you here, Elf, sneaking through our kingdom?"

Thandir smiled, refusing to take the bait. "It’s rather difficult to sneak about with the only door barred from the other side, friend. My companion and I are hunting a band of goblins who have taken two of our people prisoners. We followed them here. At first, when we heard your approach we thought you might be goblins as well."

A lie, of course, yet he would say or do anything to solicit the dwarves’ help in rescuing Elladan and Elrohir. Already a plan was formulating in his mind that would allow the twins to be saved without involving the two scouts.

"Prisoners?" The dwarf asked, sounding less suspicious.

Thandir nodded. "Yes. They were taken not too far from here. We’ve been following them but have had no luck in catching them before they returned to their lair. We fear for the safety of our friends."

The dwarf nodded in understanding then turned his back on the elves to discuss the matter with his companions. They spoke in low tones, though the elves could hear them easily enough, but otherwise the dwarves’ words were incomprehensible to them, for they were speaking in their own tongue.

Finally the lead dwarf turned to the elves. "I am Lóni son of Lofar at your service. My lord Búri has sent us to clean out this nest of goblins from these mountains."

"Surely the halls of Khazad-dûm do not extend this far north?" Eluwen inqired, for she knew that Hadhadlond lay many leagues to the south.

"And your king is named Regin, is it not? Who is Búri?" Thandir asked.

Lóni decided to answer Thandir first. "You are correct, Elf. Uzbad Búri is the leader of this settlement. We are an outlier of Khazad-dûm, called Azaghâl-dûm, after its first lord who died at the Dagorlad."

Eluwen looked surprised, for though she had been there, she did not recall seeing any dwarves fighting before the Black Gate, but Thandir nodded his head.

"Brave was Azaghâl Aurvangul. Many an orc he slew, saving the life of my lord Elrond, though he himself died for all that my lord sought to heal him of his wounds."

The dwarves looked at the elf with grave respect.

"You knew Lord Azaghâl?" Lóni asked, his eyes widening.

Thandir smiled, though it was tinged with sadness. "Indeed. Many a night we sat round the fire trading tales and tankards. He was always intent on seeing me drunk, but he usually was in a stupor long before I felt any effects of the gut-rot he called beer."

Lóni laughed and the other dwarves echoed him. "Well said, my lord. Well said. Now, tell us of these goblins, for we too are hunting them."

"First, let us return to yon chamber where we may speak at ease," Thandir suggested, and the dwarves agreed.

Soon, they were all seated in the middle of the room. Thandir spoke first.

"We came down these stairs here, which are clearly dwarf-made, yet the upper chambers are untouched and there is a shaft that appears to have been made by goblins leading to the upper world."

Lóni nodded, stroking his neatly braided auburn beard. "We built the stairs and began exploring the passages and chambers above when we found signs that goblins still haunted the upper reaches. We think that shaft was meant as a trap for the unwary who would have no way to climb out and would wander lost or simply die in that chamber." The dwarf smiled evilly. "An easy way to catch one’s dinner, don’t you think?"

Eluwen fought not to shiver at the thought and wondered how the twins fared.

Lóni continued. "When we discovered this, our lord decided to bar the door to this chamber until we could muster enough warriors to scour the upper reaches of these spawn of Nargûn. Before we could, though, we discovered they had broken through over there, though why they didn’t just use these stairs we do not know."

"Perhaps they were unaware they existed," Eluwen offered, not entirely convinced herself. Who could understand the ways of goblins, anyway?

Lóni did not answer, but looked pointedly at Thandir. "And now, my lord..."

Thandir raised a hand, stopping the dwarf in mid-sentence. "We were above, looking for two of our own who had the misfortune of getting between a mother bear and her cub."

The dwarves all blinked at that and one or two shook their heads, but whether in sympathy or disgust at the stupidity of elves, Thandir was not willing to guess.

"We were behind them but could not see what was happening for a rise in the land stood between us. When we came upon the scene our friends were nowhere in sight. We later discovered the shaft you mentioned and realized they must have fallen through in their haste to, er, depart."

Some of the dwarves smiled at that but sobered at Thandir’s next words. "We need your help in rescuing our friends, for we are not allowed to rescue them ourselves."

"What?" Lóni cried. "What mischief is this? Speak plainly, Elf."

Thandir sighed and glanced at Eluwen who merely raised a delicate eyebrow at her mate, more than willing to let him take the lead. Thandir turned back to the dwarves. "We are under orders not to interfere with anything that happens to our friends unless at direst need, for they are not to know we are here."

"Why?" a dwarf with sandy hair and beard asked. He appeared somewhat younger than most of the other dwarves, though it was difficult for immortals to guess at the ages of mortals.

"They are the sons of Lord Elrond of Imladris."

"Lord Elrond’s twin sons?" Lóni asked in disbelief and his expression of surprise was mirrored on the faces of the other dwarves.

"Yes. Elladan and Elrohir asked permission of their sire to travel across the Hithaeglir by themselves, but unbeknown to them, my companion and I were asked to follow them and ensure their safety, but not to let them know we were there. The twins are only a few decades past their majority, still quite young by the reckoning of our people."

"Ah," said the sandy-haired dwarf, smiling knowingly. "My father thought I was not mature enough to join this company, but when I insisted, he set my older cousin to watch over me, for all that I am nearly a hundred years old. The sons of Lord Elrond have my sincerest sympathy."

Lóni snorted and rolled his eyes as the other dwarves chuckled. "You are Uzbad Búri’s only heir, Brunir. He has a right to be concerned for your safety. Now, enough. We need to discuss how best to free Lord Elrond’s sons from those maggots." He turned back to the elves. "Have you a plan, Friend Thandir?"

Thandir nodded, hiding a smile. "Yes, though it is not without its risks. Here is what I think we should do...."

****

Elladan hurt.

He was lying in a hole somewhere near the goblin’s den. His body ached in ways he never knew it could. The ropes binding his extremities were tight, and he feared that circulation would be impeded enough for necrosis to set in. He remembered his Daernaneth telling him about Maedhros and shivered in spite of himself.

He tried to remember what had happened after he and Elrohir were set upon, but memories were slow to come and he feared, or perhaps hoped, some of them would never come at all. He could not see, though his eyes were open. He wasn’t blind, for he had noticed torchlight passing above him sometime earlier but now all lay in utter darkness. In the brief second of the passing light he had taken stock of his surroundings, hoping to see Elrohir lying nearby, but his brother was not there.

He was alone. And he was afraid.

He tried shifting his weight a bit in an attempt to ease his bonds somewhat, but the slightest movement set his head spinning. Concussion, he thought, and could suddenly hear his adar lecturing him and Elrohir on head injuries.

"Too bad adar didn’t see fit to lecture us on how to escape from a goblin hole," he muttered to himself and to his horror found himself giggling and fought to suppress it.

Shock. He must be in shock. He leaned back against the cold wall, closed his eyes and tried to sense his brother through their twin-bond, but the pain was too overwhelming for him to concentrate and he gave up, letting out a long breath he hadn’t known he was holding. The pain and fear transmuted into something akin to despair and he found himself weeping. This time he didn’t try to suppress it, but allowed the tears to flow freely.

Eventually, he fell asleep.

****

It was the sounds of screaming that woke him. He stared about him in confusion at first, but then looked up to where he could dimly see torchlight and shadows. Someone screamed again.

"Elrohir!" He struggled in his bonds, but all he managed to do was to fall on his face. He tried to yell his brother’s name again, but he couldn’t find the breath for it and the helplessness he felt sent him further into despair.

At some point he realized he was no longer hearing the screams and he wondered if his brother was dead and if he was next. Curiously, the thought did not frighten him overmuch. It would be a relief to be with his twin again even if it were in the Halls of Mandos. His only regret was that his adar and naneth would never know what had happened to them.

As these dark thoughts roiled within his mind, he felt, rather than heard, movement above him. He tensed at the thought that the goblins had come for him now, when he heard a gruff voice call out.

"Mahal! Here’s another elfling, Lord Brunir."

"Well, Thekki," came an amused voice, "don’t just stand there dithering like a virgin on her wedding night, get down there and haul him up. We don’t want these elves to think we’re lacking in common courtesy, do we?"

There was the sound of chuckling even as someone threw down a rope and began climbing down. Elladan attempted to sit up, his mind reeling. Naugrim! What were the naugrim doing here? The dwarf reached the floor of the dungeon and moved over to the elf to free him, but Elladan’s only thoughts were on his brother.

"Elrohir! My brother!" he cried, speaking in Westron. "Where’s my brother?"

"Na-voe, mellon. Thiag naud sui carpholch thêl ’nin naurdhath. Muindor gîn mae," came the unexpected reply.

Sindarin? What was a dwarf doing speaking Sindarin, and fluent Sindarin at that? 

"Wh...who are you?" Elladan asked in the same language.

The dwarf chuckled even as he took a knife and began sawing on the ropes binding the elf. "I am Thekki son of Thrisk at your service, young elf-lord. You and your brother are fortunate that we came when we did, for I fear you would not have lived out the night."

"How did you know we were here?"

"Well, now. In truth, we did not. My lord ordered us to be rid of the uain thaur o Nargûn that still infested these caverns. We had no idea that you would be here."

The bonds were cut but Elladan could not feel anything, and indeed found himself unable to move. When Thekki attempted to help him up the pain in his limbs forced a scream from him.

"Hsst. I think you had best remain where you are for the nonce, elfling." Thekki carefully eased Elladan to the floor then looked up to where other dwarves awaited and called up. "He’s lost circulation and will be incapacitated for a bit. Throw down some blankets that I may keep him warm and perhaps some hot broth would not be amiss, for it will help strengthen him."

"Can we not fashion a halter to bring him up?" Elladan heard someone ask and the thought of being hauled up like a sack of potatoes made him blush, though there were none to see.

Thekki, however, was shaking his head. "Nay, best to wait a bit until feeling returns to his limbs. It will make the climb easier. How fares the other elfling?"

Before anyone could reply, Elladan cried out. "Elrohir! Where’s Elrohir?" he pleaded, almost despairingly, for he did not quite believe the dwarf’s words that his brother was well.

"Sîdh, mellon," Thekki replied, coming over to squat in front of the elf, rubbing Elladan’s wrists in an attempt to speed up recovery. "Your brother is well, as I have said. He was found in another hole not far from here and is unharmed."

Elladan sagged against the wall in relief, tears suddenly forming. He tried to stop them, not wishing the dwarf to see him weeping like a child, but he could not and hot shame flooded him as his body shuddered with sobs. Then he felt Thekki move his position to sit beside him and wrap his brawny arms around the lithe frame of the elf, holding him until the sobbing slowed.

"Hsst, now, elfling. All is well. We’ll be having you and your brother reunited soon enough. Then you will be a guest of my lord Búri and will tell us your tale. Come, now, let us see if you can stand yet."

There was more feeling in his limbs now, painful, yet reassuring in the pain, but he still could not stand. A voice called down from above and soon a couple of blankets and a flask were being sent down. Thekki wrapped the blankets about the young elf and held the flask to his lips.

"Here, drink this. It should help."

And it did. Soon the warmth of the broth spread throughout his body and he felt immensely better, enough so that a quarter of an hour later, when he tried standing again, he found that he could, though he needed Thekki’s support. Still it was a good sign. His hands still felt numb and Thekki at last decided that a halter would be the best means of getting the elf out of the hole after all. Elladan reluctantly agreed, sighing in the put upon way of all youth. Thekki found himself hiding a smile, suddenly reminded of how his own son, when younger, used to act. The elven scouts had been correct — this one was still young in many ways.

It took only minutes for the dwarves to haul Elladan up and, to the young elf’s delight, he found Elrohir waiting for him.

The twins embraced one another wordlessly, each running hands and eyes over the other to ascertain his health. The dwarves standing around looked upon them indulgently until Thekki cleared his throat.

"As much as I hate to break up this warm reunion among kin, I think we should remove ourselves from these caverns. Do you not agree, Lord Brunir?" Elladan saw Thekki turn with a short bow towards a sandy-haired dwarf, who smiled.

"Oh, indeed, Thekki. My very thoughts." Brunir turned to look about and motioned towards an older dwarf with a reddish-brown beard who was just approaching their group from further up the cavern. Elladan noticed the look of satisfacation on the dwarf’s face. "Uncle, have we cleaned this nest of vipers out?"

Lóni nodded, hefting his battle axe easily. "Yes we have, Nephew. Your sire will be pleased at how well you have handled yourself in the fray."

"Hmrph. Considering what little you allowed me to do, Uncle, I doubt it will impress him."

Lóni merely snorted, but the other dwarves standing around them laughed. The elves, having heard the conversation, though not understanding its meaning, merely shrugged at each other. Thekki took Elladan’s hand.

"Come, elflings. We will take you to our home and see to your hurts and you can tell us how you came to such straits as these."

"We’re not elflings, friend Thekki," Elladan said with some dignity and Elrohir nodded, though he did not speak.

Thekki laughed, giving the two elves an abbreviated bow that was nevertheless respectful. "Perhaps not, my lord. Come, we will take it as slowly as needed until you have regained your circulation and strength."

With that the band of dwarves set out with the two elves in their midst. Thekki was making introductions as they walked, keeping the twins busy trying to remember everyone’s name. Neither noticed two of the dwarves hanging back. As Thekki and the others led the twins away, two lithe shadows disengaged themselves from a dark corner of the cave.

"Well, we’ve rescued your lost cubs, friend Thandir," Lóni said without looking up.

"And for that, you have the undying gratitude of the Lord of Imladris and myself." Thandir gave the two dwarves a bow and Eluwen followed suit. Then the elves melted away into the shadows once more.

Brunir and Lóni were left to ponder just how long "undying" truly was as they rejoined their companions back to Azaghâl-dûm.

****

Anno dulu enni!: "Rescue me!" Literally, "Give support/aid to me"; dulu is lenited from tulu since it is the object of the verb anno.

Sîdh, muindor nîn: Peace, my brother.

Elleth: Female elf.

Yrch: Plural of orch: orc.

Lechenn: Plural of Lachenn, "deep elf"; a Sindarin name for the Ñoldor.

Mahal: Khuzdul name for the Vala Aulë.

Hadhadrond: Sindarin name for Khazad-dûm at this time. The dwarf kingdom will not fall to the Balrog and be renamed Moria for another 1,765 years.

Uzbad: (Khuzdul) Lord.

Nargûn: (Khuzdul) Mordor.

Na-voe, mellon. Thiag naud sui carpholch thêl nin naurdhath. Muindor gîn mae: "Softly, friend. You appear bound like a boar intended for the firepit. Your brother is well". Thekki uses the 2^nd person familiar form here, not as an insult, but because he is forty years older than Elladan and in his eyes would see Elladan as a child, whatever his race.

Uain thaur o Nargûn: Abhorrant monsters from Mordor.

Notes on Dwarf names:

Most of the names of the dwarves in this story have been taken from the Dvertagal, the same list of dwarf names used by Tolkien. That list can now be found on the website called Glaemscrafu, or Tolkien’s Linguistic Cellar. You can access it through http://www.jrrvf.com. This website is in French, but you will find the link to Glaemscrafu under Partenaire (look under Menu in the lefthand sidebar). You can then click on the British flag icon to access the English version.

At the time of this story, T.A. 251, Regin son of Nár is king of Khazad-dûm. The list of dwarf kings of Khazad-dûm found in Appendix A which Gimli provided only goes back to the middle of the Third Age when Durin VI (†1980) is king.

Azaghâl was the name of a lord of the dwarves of Belegost during the First Age (The Silmarillion, chapter 20).