Chapter 27: Again?
[Aldril POV]
"Anglachel and Anguirel," I murmured as I stared at the two blades in my hands. Sometime during my trance, I had unsheathed both blades, which now glowed in sync, as if they recognized each other after centuries of separation.
"Anglachel," I whispered, admiring the sword in my right hand. Its hilt was delicate and elegant, decorated with intricate elvish engravings. The blade, black as deepest night, seemed to absorb light rather than reflect it, emitting a dark glow.
At the mention of her name, Anglachel glowed with an even more intense dark flash, and a current of energy coursed through my body. I felt the sword's willingness to accept me as its owner, a bond formed that bound her to me
"Anguirel," I whispered again, looking at the twin sword in my left hand. Its hilt was of equally high quality and elegance, but its blade was completely different: silver as moonlight and bright as a star. "The sword that gave me the system in that dream with Geralt... but why?" I thought it was a witcher's silver sword, but I was mistaken.
As I contemplated both swords, a bluish glow on the same shelf caught my eye. It was a familiar glow, a light I knew well: the mythical Sting dagger.
I shook my head and smiled wryly as I stowed Anglachel and Anguirel in their sheaths. Their glows began to dim as they entered the sheath, as if entering a deep sleep. With a quick step, I picked up the dagger, which was still glowing brightly.
"I'm sorry, but you would help a little hobbit more. Without you, his fate could be only death," I whispered, turning to see Bilbo, looking at me with wide eyes. "Take this, Bilbo. It will help keep you alive." I tossed it to Sting, who seemed reluctant to let me, but finally gave in.
If someone told me it was stupid to give Bilbo the dagger, I would disagree. In the movie, the sword saves him from many dangerous situations. Also, I've grown a little fond of this hobbit. He's a good friend and I don't want him to die because of my greed.
"But I don't know how to handle the sword properly," Bilbo said, holding Sting awkwardly. The light from the dagger had dimmed as if assessing its new wielder.
Raising an eyebrow, I reminded him, "Remember, you will be learning swordplay from me and will become proficient in no time. You lack only self-confidence, Bilbo." At my comment, Bilbo lowered his head and nodded, accepting the truth of my words.
Unsheathing the dagger, I heard a soft "wow" from Bilbo, as the perfection of the dagger had enchanted him.
It was in that moment of contemplation that a cry outside the cave rang out, causing us both to look at the cave entrance.
"This way, I found the entrance!"
"Damn, this place stinks!"
"I can hardly keep my eyes open."
"Is there any treasure here?"
"I can't see anything."
"Wow, look what we found. Those big chunks of feces, the dirty, smelly straw, and the bones they left behind. Are these the treasures we're looking for?"
"Where are Aldril and Bilbo?"
"Stop being idiots, you have to look hard."
"Great, look at all those coins!"
The jumbled footsteps and mingled voices of the dwarves were particularly loud, the silent cave could no longer be seen anywhere, we just kept quiet without letting the dwarves know we were there.
"Quick, Bilbo! Grab anything you like before the dwarves arrive," I said, encouraging him as he hurried towards the treasure chests scattered around us.
A smile graced my face as I watched Bilbo move nimbly, his eyes sparkling with excitement as he rummaged through the treasures. Shaking my head, I approached a chest brimming with gold coins and jewels.
Despite showing that I was calm, the truth was the opposite, I found myself with many chaotic thoughts, and countless questions running through my mind. Why did the swords choose me? Whose voice was that? Who am I? What are my origins? Why did I transmigrate?
"Many questions, but still unanswered, I hope we get to Rivendell fast, I need to find answers," I said to myself.
***
[General POV]
Finally, after a few minutes the dwarves arrived at Aldril and Bilbo's location, as they approached their faces reflected joy at the many treasures scattered around, and relieved not to smell any foul odors in this section.
"Aldril, Bilbo, we found them at last!"
"Turns out they were faster than us."
"I told them we should have followed Aldril and Bilbo."
"Hey, there's a lot of coins scattered around, we need to sort them out."
At some point, several of the dwarves began to pick up the coins desperately scattered on the ground.
To Aldril, it was certainly a very funny sight. He was not surprised by the dwarves' behavior; a month ago, Gandalf had told him how they behave when they see a lot of treasure.
The dwarves, with their waving beards and glittering eyes, looked like children at a festival, each vying to pick up the shiniest coins. The cave echoed with the tinkling of gold and jubilant laughter.
Soon the missing members arrived: Gandalf, Thorin, and Balin. With a raised eyebrow, they watched the other dwarves shuffling about as they collected coins.
"Gandalf, Thorin, take a look over here," Aldril said, catching their attention and signaling with his thumb for them both to approach a rack of weapons.
As they approached, they both grabbed the only two remaining swords.
As he unsheathes his sword, Thorin's face becomes very serious. In a deep voice, he said, "These weapons could not have been forged by trolls, they don't even appear to be forged by dwarves. Perhaps some human forged them?"
Despite being a king, Thorin had much knowledge of blacksmithing, for he had worked as a blacksmith for many years, and along with this, he gained vast knowledge.
Unsheathing the other sword, Gandalf, nodded as he contemplated it. "Perhaps forged by elves - who knows? But these runes written on the blade of the sword are certainly of the Elvish language."
Hearing that they were possibly Elvish, Thorin's face showed hesitation about whether to keep it or leave it. However, he did not expect Gandalf's next words, "Don't think too hard. Elvish swords of this caliber are usually very rare. May your judgment against the elves not cause you to give up a very good sword."
Even reluctantly, Thorin placed the sword at his waist. Though he showed reluctance, deep inside he was pleased. He hated elves, that was true, but he would not say no to a sword of such a good caliber.
Gandalf gave Aldril and his new sword a glance. He was certainly curious to know if this new sword would be just as magical as the old one, but in the end, he opted not to ask.
As Aldril led Thorin and Gandalf to the weapons rack, the other dwarves had finished lifting all the coins and placed them in a chest. "How should we distribute the treasure?" asked one of the dwarves.
"It's very simple, we should divide it equally," suggested another. The conversation flowed with enthusiasm as they decided the fate of their newly discovered treasure.
"Good idea, do you want to divide it now?" asked Bofur.
"We have a long journey ahead of us. It's not convenient to take it with us, why don't we bury it and pick it up later?" proposed Dwalin.
"Okay, that's a good option," agreed the others.
Quickly, by unanimous decision, the dwarves began to dig deep with their axes and swords, soon burying a large chest full of gold coins and jewelry.
"If they already took everything they wanted, it's best to go back to camp and get some rest," Thorin said after stowing the sword in his waist, as he looked at everyone else with a serene gaze.
Nodding, they all started to leave the troll cave.
However, on their way back, a howl echoed in the air. Everyone's expression changed; they knew whose howl it was.
"Auuuuuu!"
"Damn it! Give me a break," Aldril muttered in exasperation. He hadn't had time to rest properly. Aard's signal and the fight with the trolls had tired him too much, and now they needed to run to get away from the wargs again.
No doubt poor Aldril would have no time to rest.
****
It seems you like it when I talk to you in a vulgar way, you disgusting orcs! Here you have today's chapter. I used Chat GPT and the few uses Grammarly allows me to correct the grammar, so give me your opinion. If you know of any other tool that can help me improve my grammar, I would appreciate you mentioning it.
"Leaving that aside, I've been playing the Elden Ring DLC and I have to say that Mesmer, the damn deformed dog, treated me like crap! It seems I'm a masochist because I got hooked on the high difficulty. What did you guys think of the DLC? Difficult? Haha."
Remember, you can support me on Patreon, where there are early chapters. And, my God, we reached 100 subscribers! This week I'll do a special on Patreon, uploading the new Resident Evil fic! So you can subscribe for free, and later you might want to join my beloved paid Demon Hunters!
"P@treon/Mrnevercry"