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[Fordim Hedgethistle]

Hænir had noted Dwalin’s distrust of the travellers, and while he managed to hide his feelings somewhat more effectively than the younger Dwarf, he shared them. He still had not forgiven them the little ‘prank’ they had pulled when they arrived – no matter who the marksman, an Elf of the greenwood or not, it was no laughing matter to Hænir to have someone shoot an arrow at him or one of his companions! As a consequence, he made sure that when he sat down by the fire, he did so with his face to the travellers, and with Nerin and Dwalin on either side of him.

The travellers had seemed to settle right into the group and make themselves at home, and Bali had certainly taken to them. Hænir had spent several weeks now in the close company of Bali and had come to the conclusion that while he was a Dwarf of mettle and spirit, he was still quite young in spirit: brash, confident and quick to decide for others. Hænir was used to taking orders, but from his King, to whom he had sworn eternal obedience and loyalty. Bali, as true as he undeniably was, had yet – Hænir felt – to earn the right to assume that he was the unquestioned leader of the group. And yet, no sooner had they finished their evening meal, then Bali was ordering – ordering – himself and Nerin to collect more wood. Hænir paused for a moment, considering whether the time was ripe to openly question the imperious manner that had come to rankle him, but decided that it had not. He did allow himself, however, one muttered phrase as he stomped past Bali: “I did not bring my axe on this journey to cut wood!”

Nerin and he had little trouble finding dry wood aplenty in the forest and they each soon had an armful of fuel for their fire. As they were about to return to the clearing, they saw off to their side, well out of the light of the fire, Dwalin and the Ranger Arasiniel, apparently in conversation. Hænir beckoned Nerin to stop. The younger Dwarf followed Hænir’s gaze and then looked at him in alarm. “What’s the matter?” he hissed quietly. “Is that Ranger threatening Dwalin?”

Hænir shook his head slowly, “I do not know,” he said, “but there is something amiss. Dwalin has been uncomfortable all night – I do not think that he cares for these travellers overmuch.” He saw the Ranger move closer to Dwalin, and it was all he could do to prevent himself from crying out a warning. He still felt the guilt of having abandoned Dwalin and Durin to the orcs, and as a result had become more than a little protective of them since their miraculous escape. He saw Dwalin and Arasiniel move back toward the fire and he could not help but sigh somewhat with relief. He turned to Nerin once more, “Come my friend, let us get this wood back to Bali so he can build up the fire.”

“What was going on?”

“‘Twas nothing, my lad. Dwalin was, I think, seeking some time alone and the Ranger merely surprised him in the dark.” He was not sure that Nerin believed this. He was not sure that he did, either.

[Nilpaurion Felagund]

Normally, he would have been the first to greet newcomers, but they were in a strange land, and they were a strange company. Why are they here, anyway?

So far, nothing untoward has happened to the company since reaching Rhûn, but that only made Narvi feel more paranoid. Rhûn might have kept its surprises, of the worst kind, towards the end.

He looked at the Dwarven newcomer, and his hands tightened around the axe, but relaxed moments later. He reproached himself for allowing paranoia control his usually gregarious personality. Dropping the axe among his things, he decided to approach the Dwarf, and strike a conversation. Then you'll see he's a true Dwarf, and not an illusion of the land.

"Gortek, right?" The Dwarf nodded.

He sat down beside Gortek, and said, "I am Narvi Silverfist. Tell me, what brings you here, with this," he lowered his voice, "queer company?"

[Novnarwen]

As Dwalin paced back towards the others, having Arasiniel close behind, he couldn't help feeling a bit silly. He had definitely been stupid, or paranoid was more the word. But at these times, one could never be too careful, right? He shrugged, as he settled himself again, away from Arasiniel. He didn't quite trust him still, would he ever?

The petty dwarf saw Hænir and Nerin coming back from the woods, after having collected wood for the fire. Dwalin wanted to tell them everything; maybe they shared his doubts. Eventually, he decided not to tell them. A Dwarf like him, with this position in the company, couldn't show any sign of fear. But all the same, doubt and fear were two different things. He could in fact tell them that he found the travellers untrustworthy, without revealing his fear. Though, Dwalin had been frightened by Arasiniel's way of approaching him, coming up from behind, he didn't necessarily have to tell Hænir and Nerin that. Yes, that was a good idea. But again, the dwarf grew uncertain. By the look in Bali's face, smiling and talking to these new arrived companions, he just couldn't do it. He knew that Bali trusted them, and Bali knew best. Throughout their childhood and adults lives, he had always known what was best. He had always been Dwalin's rescuer in this way, as he always knew what to do.

Dwalin bit his lip. Here they came; Hænir and Nerin. He wanted to rise and leave the others again, but Hænir had already caught Dwalin's eye. The two of them settled down, close to Dwalin.

"You okay, Dwalin?" Nerin asked curiously after a while.

Dwalin was busy thinking again, now biting inside his mouth. He felt the taste of blood, but turned at last his attention to Nerin.

"Yeah, sure," Dwalin answered dryly, looking into the fire.

Nerin continued by saying that Dwalin looked worried or concerned. This, Dwalin pretended to come as a shock. He waved his hands, speaking louder than usual and told him that this indeed was not correct. "Just a bit tired," he added in the end. Nerin seemed satisfied by this answer, though troubled, but asked no further. The three of them sat quietly, listening to the others. Dwalin caught a word or two, but didn't pay much attention to what was going on. The Dwarf soon determined that Arasiniel probably could be trusted, but the other two would still be under his close watch.

I'm watching you two," Dwalin muttered under his breath, glancing over at the travellers.

[Carlas]

Durin sat beside Bali as the two chatted merrily with the elf, whose name they had learned was Raedin. Durin had traveled most of his life and had met many strange folk over the years, but he had always enjoyed the company of elves foremost. Though most found this strange, he had grown up with his father who had befriended many elves over the years, and who had loved to tell Durin of the great deeds they had done. He smiled softly, thinking back on the tales he had been told and looked around the small fire where he and his companions sat.

They all sat speaking quietly with eachother, at first seemingly all right with the arrival of the elf, dwarf and man, but then Durin noticed that they all kept glancing at the three; as if they were scared that they would jump up at any moment and start attacking them. He sighed, he knew you shouldn’t trust anyone immediately, but he also knew that most strangers he had come across when he had traveled, had ended up becoming some of his closest friends. Almost everyone on this journey had been strangers at first, but they had bonded rather quickly, and he hoped it would be the same with Raedin, Gortek, and Arasiniel.

He turned back to Bali and Raedin who were now laughing merrily at something Bali had just said, and smiled. He knew some were questioning Bali’s leadership, he could see it, but he trusted Bali and would follow him anywhere. He hoped the others would too, if they were really going to find the treasures they had always heard resided in Ruhn, what the company needed most was trust.

[bilbo_baggins]

Aaah! the distrust was sown far and wide. Aras could see plainly that all the dwarves, Bali included held a small granule of distrust back to keep and nurture. Of course, that could only be expected after the sudden way in which they had marked their entrance into this strange drama. He could feel that a turning point had been reached and his trio had reached the end of their wait. Happily, he had no doubts about this group, yet obviously the group had their own dowbts. Strange, that one side should feel a portent of great import, and the other should have narry a specter or premonition.

Yet not that strange, it seemed, as the group of dwarves and ranger had a purpose in their journeying. Aras' trio had been sitting bye the two rivers waiting, for what they could not tell.

Turning to Durin, he asked, "So I have learned that you travel to Rhûn, but not for what purpose. Perhaps you can tell me?"

"Certainly, we travel to see the riches it has to offer, and to take of them."

"I see. Rather obvious, I suppose, that dwarves would seek riches there. They do so almost everywhere," Arasiniel said with a smirk touching the corners of his mouth. "I do believe that it will be some adventure we have in Rhûn, no doubt about it."

Watching the campfire thoughtfully, Aras did not notice the steady fall of dark. Dark was comforting, falling on everyone alike. Finding equalizers helped in strange situations. He thought of his favorite equalizer, death. Now why should he want to think of death at such a meeting? Aras was troubled by what had occurred, and what was nearly promised to occur. He had to win the trust of these dwarves, if they were to be his friends in a journey to the land of Rhûn.

[Himaran]

At the Camp

Bali was greatly relieved when the company began to pack the following morning. The campsite had been a evil nest, brooding distrust, anger and rebelliousness. Once on the road, the dwarves would move their thoughts onto the more important issue of Rhûn.

The dwarf gathered up his few belongings, cleaned his weapons, and rolled up his bedding. The others were doing the same, although clearly waiting for someone to direct them. They want an order, but they don't want someone to give it to them. Much like myself naught twenty years back.

"We leave in an hour," Bali voiced. "Be ready, long days of marching are ahead of us for the seeable future."

__________________________________________________ _________

Onward to Rhûn


Several weeks passed, and the dwarves had made excellent travel time. They had grown closer to the travelers, and had made better friends with one another. Grumbles remained, but on the whole the group was pulling together. For this, Bali was infinitely grateful.

Following the river, the dwarves had made a straight line for their destination. Then the day came. "Over the next hill, we may be able to see the sea!" Bali shouted happily. "We made it, laddies, we're here!"

The Dawning Moment

Then they saw it. The channel.

As the dwarves reached the hilltop, gasps of surprise erupted from the entire group; Bali included. The river suddenly became choppy, and a rapid flow of water shot into a channel. A rock channel, with walls towering over one hundred feet. It was impassible. Looking southwards, Bali could see the range of mountains extending beyone his keen vision's reach.

"Look at the map," Dwalin suddenly stated. "The mountains are on the southwest side. We are on the northwest!"

Bali just stared, stunned. The maps were all wrong. Rhûn was surrounded by rocky hills and small mountains. But how far did they extend inward? Was there no sea afterall? Maybe the whole thing had been a huge joke. No, that can't be. There must be an entrance somewhere. Without even thinking, the dwarf snapped out an order.

"We can't pass through the channel. We have no boats, and there could be a waterfall at the far end. Let us travel south, there must be an entrance into Rhûn at some point."

"And what if there isn't," snapped Haenir."

Bali looked southward, finding no comfort in the undending range of hills. "Then we have made a journey for nothing." And there was nothing else to be said.


Fordim Hedgethistle's Post

From the beginning Gortek had been joyed by the arrival of some fresh company, and the last couple of weeks had certainly not dulled that feeling. Even the apparent distrust that some of the party's numbers seemed to hold against the three companions couldn't bring him down.

During his journeys he had, of course, heard rumors and stories about the land of Rhûn. Everyone with the slightest inkling of the subject claimed that Rhûn was filled with a myriad of natural treasure, but that in it's jungles, death stalked those foolhardy enough to cross it's borders.
He wasn't worried about the potential dangers of the journey. If he had wanted a safe and secure life he wouldn't have made travelling his chosen way of life.
As for the promise of possible riches, Gortek had a hard time containing his excitement. Where ever there was wealth to be gained, he couldn't be kept out.

The simple thought of all the upcoming excitement made him want to burst out in mirth. Even now he couldn't entirely suppress a jolly cackle from escaping now and then. Completely caught up in his daydreaming, he failed to notice that the rest of the company were giving him some berth, seemingly unnerved by his mad laughter.

That was when he heard Bali call: "Over the next hill, we may be able to see the sea! We made it, laddies, were here!"

Gortek almost leapt next to the expedition's leader, eager to catch a glimpse of the fabled land of untold riches and death.
Judging by the gasps of surprise, cries of disappointment and the confused look on Bali's face Rhûn wasn't what they had expected it to be.
Gortek's own expectations concerning the place had always been vague, as news of Rhûn were for the most part very scarce. From what little he had heard though, he knew that entering the land wasn't going to be easy.

He glanced at the company.
"Well, what did ye expect? 'Course it's got to be difficult ta get in, otherwise all the riches would have been taken by now."

He joined the others as they began to trudge southward, looking for a way that would grant them passage into the land of Rhûn.
They had been travelling for several hours when they found what they had been looking for. Overhead, high in the mountains, one could see a high pass that cut it’s way between two ancient and mighty peaks. To get there, though, they would have to scale up the sheer face of the rocky cliff that arose from the earth like a natural wall. It seemed like Rhûn itself wanted to be left alone into its brooding solitude.

[Fordim Hedgethistle]

The mountains reared above their heads like an unbroken fence as far as the eye could see. With nothing else to do, the party journeyed south, but their eyes were ever looking to the left as they went, scouring the high walls of this mysterious fence that seemed to have sprung from the earth specifically to bar them access to the riches that they were all now sure lay beyond. Hænir trudged along at the rear of the group where he could keep a ready eye on the newcomers. The Elf and the Man had been quiet and well disciplined during the march south, but still they were strangers to Hænir and not Dwarves – two very distrustful things in his book. The third stranger, Gortek, while a Dwarf was clearly not entirely right in the head. He seemed, in fact, to be on good terms with the Elf and the Man, which was proof enough, to Hænir at least, that his wits had turned at least partly.

The first sight of the mountains had plunged Hænir’s heart, normally so sturdy, right through the bottom of his gut and into his boots. He had glared openly at Bali as though the mountains had been his fault, and he continued to stare at their leader balefully throughout that day. Nerin had noticed this and tentatively asked what was wrong, but Hænir’s sharp reply, so uncharacteristic for him, had effectively concluded that conversation. Hænir, more than usually quiet on the subject, kept his thoughts to himself and did not know what the others thought of this turn of events. Some, he could tell, were disappointed, but he did not know if any shared his now very low opinion of the leader who had led them so far to find only an impassable road.

They had been marching south for several hours when the Dwarves spotted a high waterfall roaring from the top of a cliff. The spur of rock from which the water fell was apparently a far-flung shoulder of the mountains, and it swept out from them in a long, gently sloping plain that ended abruptly in an almost sheer cliff on all sides. It looked for the world like the prow of a huge low-lying boat settled into the earth that lay about the mountains. Hænir could see clearly that the plain at the top of the cliffs extended high into the mountains, where it narrowed into what appeared to be a high pass between two mighty peaks. It was possible that through that pass lay the way into the hidden realm of Rhûn – but only if they could find a way up the cliff…