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The darkness of the tunnels was becoming oppressive and the only stay that Hænir had against it was his axe. He clutched it tightly in his mailed fists as they wandered through the corridors. They had been blundering about like this for so long that he had almost forgotten what it was they were seeking. His distraction led him to stumble into Nerin who had stopped short just before him. “Oi!” the younger Dwarf expostulated beneath his breath, “watch your feet!”
Hænir scowled into the gloom and muttered an apology. The whole party seemed to have halted for a time so Hænir took the opportunity to ask Nerin how he was enduring the trials of this terrible place – it was the first chance he’d had to talk with his friend since arriving at the edge of the deadly Sea. Nerin turned to face him and said, “I am well, I suppose. As well as I could be. I took a bit of a knock in the battle, but I acquitted myself well.”
“Aye,” said Hænir with professional appreciation, “that you did lad, that you did. It was a close fought thing, but we sent them back with memories that will prevent them from coming upon us again soon!” He chuckled mirthlessly under his beard as he remembered the Rhûnian he had slain. “They were good fighters, though; the best I’ve seen since we stormed the last holdouts at Gundabad! Ah, now” he sighed, losing himself in a happy memory, “that was a proper battle, lad. The goblins kept retreating deeper and deeper into their caves and cracks, and we kept pressing in upon them. In the final sorties of the war, we were so deep beneath the surface of the earth that we fancied we could feel the fire that burns at her heart, welling up beneath our feet. The dark was so thick, you couldn’t even remember the sight of sun.” He felt rather than saw Nerin shudder. “I’m sorry, lad,” he said, laying a hand that he hoped was comforting on his shoulder, “I shouldn’t be speaking of such things at a time like this. There’s enough enemies in the dark in the here and now!”
Bali’s voice came to them through the dark, ordering the party onward. Hefting his axe, suddenly made lighter with the memory of the goblins he’d slain in that long-ago war, Hænir pressed ahead into the unnatural night-time of the cave.
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