Eduwiges of Faldham huffed and puffed her way up the steep ramp deep inside the bowels of Moria. Sweat beaded on her forehead and she could feel it popping out from every pore in her body. Dust from the deep caverns coated her skin like a fine powder. The humidity of the ancient mine meant that her clothes were drenched and stayed drenched. She blew a lock of hair away from her eyes and adjusted her makeshift pack. She ceased staring at the ramp in front of her and looked up. Edu’s new companion, Ahmo Laicamiril was leading them up and out of the largest tomb she had ever seen. Her green eyes flickered appreciatively as they worked their way from the elleth’s athletic legs and over her curvy rump. Eduwiges frowned as the rest of the view was blocked by Laicamiril’s armor, a hemp tunic over ringed armor. Ahmo showed no signs of fatigue whatsoever as they changed direction and continued rising up the switchback.
Ahmo glanced back and shook her head at Eduwiges’ obvious strain. ‘Horse lords do not walk much, Lady Eduwiges?’ she asked with a wry grin.
‘B, b, bollocks!’ Eduwiges stuttered, out of breath.
‘I have run the forests of Imladris, and the flets of Lorien! Only a mountain goat or an insane elf would enjoy this!
‘Hold a moment!’ she cried.
Eduwiges pulled a waterskin from her makeshift pack and drank deeply from it. She then held it over her head and poured some of the water on her face. The liquid cleansed her skin of dust and sweat as well as cooling her off. She offered the bag to Laicamiril. Ahmo took the water with a twinkle in her eye, drank a small sip and handed the skin back to her. ‘You may as well be on a stroll in the vineyards of Lorien woman!’ the white haired woman cried.
Eduwiges replaced the skin back in her pack. She took great care not to disturb the hidden treasure within before she slung it back over her shoulder and then gestured at Ahmo, as if to ask, ‘What are you waiting for?’
Lacaicarmiril chuckled and began the climb back up the ramp all over again. Not a hair was out of place and her gear was impeccably arrayed around her body as she moved forward.
The two companions had been on the move ever since Eduwiges had chanced upon a party of orcs and goblins accosting Ahmo some miles back. The shield maiden had been all for camping for a rest but the elleth insisted they move on. ‘The exit is not too far and I would feel more comfortable on the surface,’ she said.
‘The orcs here are like ants. Eduwiges of Faldham. It is only a matter of time before they find us. Up and out!’
That had been hours ago. Since then it had been one giant slog from the ambush site and up the gigantic ramp towards the surface. ‘Bloody dwarves must be over compensating for their lack of height by building everything so gigantic.’ Eduwiges thought.
Edu kept her head down and her elbows moving as time faded into nothing. Suddenly the incline ceased and flattened out. Bitterly cold air nipped at her nose as Ahmo turned to her, ‘See!’ She said, ‘I told you it was not far!’
Eduwiges rolled her eyes and adjusted her greatsword which had begun chafing her back. The cold air made a loud rushing sound as it blasted through the cavern opening in front of her. She had to blink as light reflected from the ground and into her eyes. Stalagmites and stalactites pointed evilly at each other like some ancient monster’s teeth clenching. Snow dusted and swirled along the cavern floor. At first Eduwiges welcomed the change in temperature until the wind began nipping at her skin like an insect's legs. Extreme heat became extreme cold and unconsciously she began shivering. Ahmo was just standing there, her eyes missing nothing. She looked around calm and collected. ‘Did the damned elf feel anything?’She wondered.
The elleth sniffed the air and suddenly Eduwiges heard it, the stamp of booted feet angling up the ramp. The snarling of orc speech and the stench of trolls rolled through the sound of arctic wind blasting through the cavern. ‘ yrrch!’ Ahmo cried.
The two of them begin running pell mell up the cavern. The corridors become confusing as they wound back and forth in switchbacks. Suddenly, they lurched into full daylight as the cold air revitalized their weary legs with renewed strength even as the threat of the orcs and trolls behind them forced adrenaline into their bloodstream. Edu’s greatsword banged into the wall of the cavern and reverberated. ‘Shit!’ She cried, instantly regretting the waste of air.
‘Keep running!’ the elf shouted hoarsely. How did they sneak up on them so quickly and without notice? She felt the pommel of her sword vibrating fiercely.
In a flash of light Laicamiril saw the Rohan girl in stark relief against the ragged doorway of a collapsed observation post in the cavern. She was a black silhouette against the purist cobalt, aflame with the light of the sun bursting in from above. The mortal woman was stunned by the sudden, brilliant, light after days of navigating by dim, orange torchlight, the oil lamp affixed to the goat’s saddle or the filtered luminescence of the mirror-crystals. Even Ahmo was forced to stop for a moment and blink. Too many heartbeats later and the elleth had recovered but Eduwiges was still blinking away the daggers of pain shooting through her head. ‘By Bema! I can’t fecking see!’ Eduwiges shouted.
‘It will be alright, ' Ahmo responded in a calm voice.
She moved closer to the woman and her arm reached around the woman’s waist for a squeeze of reassurance. Her open palm kept her close. ‘They are still coming Eduwiges! We have got to keep moving! Hold onto me and trot as best you can till your eyes adjust. Your vision will return in a moment.’
Ahmo moved and turned back to Eduwiges, guiding her, She looked over the shield maiden’s shoulder and saw they had gained a lead and if the sudden light hurt Eduwiges’ eyes it was positively murder to the goblins and fell creatures chasing after them. The golden sun bore down like an icy golden weight. However, the sun did not stop the enemy. They continued to pursue the pair out of the cavern. Eduwiges did her best to clear her eyes. Tears fell down her cheeks, she shook her head and blinked hard. ‘Focus damnit!’ she willed them.
At last! Her vision cleared! Against the back of the twisty caverns a mass of figures and shadows flickered on the cavern walls. Ahmo catapulted her new friend forward and they bursted from the cave and out onto the mountain trails before them. Relief turned to horror! Against the mountain’s broad flank to the west of them a mass of figures was approaching swiftly, just out of bow shot. ‘That is a shitload of bad news coming our way Ahmo!’
Cold fear coursed through Eduwiges’ veins as she saw the fix the elleth and her were in. Orcs and trolls boiling out of the cave behind them and this new threat angling to cut them off. The woman could see well over a hundred sinewy wargs and their riders leaping distant boulders like an ocean riptide, and her, without her horse! ‘Let’s go, move!’ Ahmo shouted.
They begin moving again. Running and hopping like goats down the mountain side toward the broad glacier nestled in the lap of Celebdil. Suddenly it occurred to Edu that Ahmo sounded like the woman who trained her to ride as a child, or the Night-thorn back in Imladris. Stern and all business. She shook off the memory and did her best not to snap a leg on one of the rocks. Ahmo looked as if she were dancing in the hall of fire, all grace. Not one misplaced step as she wove her way to the field of ice before them.
Edu’s breath came out of her lungs like a blacksmith bellows and Ahmo was nearly as winded. The two were exhausted, legs like jelly. Their muscles burned like fire and each step downward jarred their bodies like a hobbit’s cart falling over on its side. As they reached a field of giant boulders the sound of furious screaming came from behind as their pursuers from the caverns burst out like ants from a stepped on mound. The sun had no effect on their eyes. The enormous trolls began loping down the slope towards the two women. They were cornered on three sides. Eduwiges swore bitterly and missed the poor goat she lost. The damn thing was made for the mountain and she was not. She also regretted tossing her bow into the giant crevasse and the loss of her arrows. Sadly, it wouldn’t have helped much, but might have made her feel better.
Suddenly, Eduwiges snagged her foot on a rock and tumbled forward into Ahmo. They both fell onto the slope and their forward momentum bounced and rolled them all the way down to the glacier. Each jar tore at their bodies as they swore themselves all the to the bottom. Slowly the sky stopped spinning and the elf and the horse mistress saw the fulbright sun overhead. ‘Are we dead?’ Eduwiges muttered shakily.
Slowly they picked themselves up and looked over the field. The glacier looked as if a giant had been plowing to plant crops. It looked like a rutted and lumpy dunlander’s farmer field. A frozen river feeding streams westward into the Sirannon. This time Eduwiges shoved Ahmo forward. The running here was much easier and the elleth dashed ahead gripping tightly to her spear. Eduwiges grimaced and did her best to keep up. She was not about to allow some filth of an orc or troll run her down. She would run like the mearas and so she did.
The sun lit the ice field like the night skies of the northern wastes of Forochel as Ahmo and Eduwiges pressed onward. Neither dared to look over their shoulder as they raced forward. Suddenly, Eduwiges slammed into the back of Laicamiril who shouted, ‘Whoa!’ and began slipping forward, sliding down toward the edge of a massive cliff. Rocks shot out from under her feet and began falling before splashing into the sparkling lake below. Eduwiges grabbed Ahmo’s belt and pulled back as hard as she could, laying flat on the ground as she strove to use her weight to keep the elf from going over the side. Ahmo dug her boots onto the edge of the cliff and struggled to scramble backwards. Finally everything gave and she landed with a thump on Eduwiges. She was flat on her back staring at the sky, lying fully on top of Edu. The back of her head clonked against Edu’s face, smashing her nose. The two of them laid on the edge of space panting and struggling to get their breath back. ‘Ahh, Ahmo,’ Eduwiges said.
‘Yes Eduwiges?’ The elleth replied.
Each breath ripped from their lungs like wheat pounded on a gristmill. ‘Get the feck off of me would you?’
The two of them became hysterical with the type of gallows humor only comrades in arms who have faced great danger can share. Now they were sisters in arms, not a millennia old elf and a very young shield maiden. They were veterans of survival together. The two helped each other to their feet and looked down. The cliff jutted hundreds of feet above the water below. Both looked behind them. The orcs, wargs and trolls had them surrounded. No matter where they turned death or capture was the only outcome. The two of them gathered their gear as best they could and looked once again over the cliff and then into each other’s eyes. Both of them grinned, The fell creatures came closer. The ground trembled with their approach. The stench of death and rotted flesh heralded their advent. The elleth and the shield maiden stared fiercely into one another’s eyes. They leaned forward in the sight of all the terrors of Mordor closing in and kissed passionately. Blushing furiously they locked arms and stepped out into space.
