28. Palantír: Creation of Dwarves

It seemed to him he is losing the hold on the palantír. He expected Sauron to assault him with more dark thoughts and memories, and gritted his teeth. But instead, Aragorn saw something else, so different from what he expected that he wasn't sure if the memory was intentional from the side of his opponent. He saw a workroom, dimly lit by the light from the forge. A muscular figure came into view, and there was an aura of power around the man – if it was a man. He seemed to be… no, not unreal. More real than anything else, actually. He leaned down, and there was a statue he was working on, from stone, or maybe bronze? It seemed so real, so alive in the light of the fire… And suddenly Aragorn knew he is looking at the creation of Dwarves through the eyes Sauron, when he was still Aulendil, an apprentice to the Vala Aulë, master of craft and smithing.

Then it was dark, and it was getting darker still, as Melkor's darkness filled Aulendil's heart. He was already Sauron Gorthaur, a Lieutenant of Angband, when something stirred in the darkness beneath the mountains. Despite his will, he was fascinated by the work of his former master. He just watched, without letting him know of his presence as one of the seven Fathers of Dwarves sleeping under the Mout Gundabad opened his eyes and watched around in wonder. And his first look was not at the stars of Varda, but at the gems in the deep womb of stone, from which he came.

As if Sauron himself was surprised by that thought, he quickly dispersed it, and the thought on Durin was changed into the shape of another Dwarf, tortured and weak, lying in the darkness of his dungeons in Dol Guldur. It was Thráin, the father of Thorin Oakenshield… Aragorn saw the destruction of the dwarven kingdom under Erebor by the dragon Smaug, he saw the Sindar hunting the Petty Dwarves from sport, he saw Húrin killing the last of their race Mím, the traitorous underground rat who betrayed Túrin and Beleg - death, death to the Dwarves, Sauron's thought seemed to tell, as if wanting to prove something even before himself.