((A letter, crumpled and a bit soiled with ash, left in one of the stacks of military reports in the Mazarbul of Durin's Folk))
We had an extended holiday in the Waterworks of Khazad-Dum. Kurdubad Barkgrim enjoyed lengthy swims, and Zokhoso Raggolgrimbob caught himself lots of fishes to eat, along with several fish puns. But after two weeks of damp and the far-off croaking of monsterous toads, the horsemen of the Esquires of the Riddermark were champing at the bit to get moving.
Thanks to the efforts of Bodruith's deliveries of messages between Khazad-dum and Ered Luin, word reached Izbad Asudrom's ear of the traveling band. Asudrom, escorted by Zokhoso Thogen, made haste to Rotting Cellar to join the others on their way into the Flaming Deeps.
Present were: Asudrom, Alhvar, Irwthryth, Godith, Dagden, the elf Rildheldiel,( Barkgrim, ) Bolorin and Galhateka, Raggolgrimbob, and Rhowyn.
After breaking camp our humble band wandered over to the edge of a porch which overlooked the gate to the Flaming Deeps. Salamanders slithered around the base of a tall obelisk towering just before it. When we arrived, I could hardly hear anything the broiling hot wind carrying foul air from the old forges into the cool regions of the underground lake. I dared not take out the map lest it get snatched away by the steady gale.
Just beyond this tunnel the fire and ash and stench of the Flaming Deeps rose up. I was amused to see our human charges and one traveling elf quickly shed their layers of armour and clothing. I knew we could not stay long here. Unfortunately the map was so crowded with illustrations of epic monuments that it did not recommend any paths. Or which ones did not have orcs or giant fire-wyrms wandering through them! I suspect all the paths were alike in that respect! Fortunately we were able to spot enough of those monuments to navigate over several bridges to a camp of fine dwarrows at the edge. ((There Bob met total humiliation as he took an AFK swan dive off of a bridge into the boiling tar... Right beside the respawn point too))
After a refreshing rest, where Alhvar was relieved by Barkgrim, we headed out. That's when the elf quips on Barkgrim's side, and the Hobbit jokes on Asudrom's side began. I tried to stay out of it, though I did a lousy job, making up a funny song in their honour.
I chose a calm route through a natural cavern where only cave-claws ventured, and kept an eye out for the turn-off marked on the map. The path was a deep one, and a lonely one, and I was unsure about where else it would meet up with other paths. Asudrom became animated and spoke about how, heading north we would be sure to meet up with Durin's Way, and insisted that we carry on northward. It was all grandiose talk about the splendour of Durin's Hall and his road there, which although was riveting, also distracted us from the bridge barely visible high above us in the gloom.
When the cavern ended in a sloping wall, I asked, 'Is that Durin's Way up there?' And pointed to the far-off object above our heads.
Asudrom did not answer but held his chin up, letting those gems tinkle without quieting them. Barkgrim said his I told you so's. The humans bowed their heads like horses under a heavy load, and the elf seemed to We walked back the lonely miles past the resident cave-claws, to the turn-off and proceeded as I had originally planned. Then there were steps upon steps. Steps with a few orcs, and although such steps were surely designed to test the endurance of anyone but dwarrows, even Asudrom and Barkgrim were winded by the time we finally crossed Durin's Way at its own level. The elf fared better than the humans who nearly collapsed in a heap.
But it was worth it! The hall of the King Under the Mountain lived up to the songs sung about it. It was perhaps the happiest moment of my life, to finally stand in that battered but still gleaming place. We went up even more stairs to the 21st Hall, what a fine garrison has been carved out for all free peoples there, thanks to the Longbeards there.
Then the bickering that had started with quips and jokes between Asudrom's and Barkgrim erupted into a sparring match between them: right in the middle of the 21st hall! Barkgrim won for the Hobbits. But we had all won, for we survived the heat, the dark and the stairs.
