Rivendell

"Ah!"

"Morgan, you're pressing on my wound!"

"Sorry, I didn't know you were underneath me."

"Bombur, you're crushing the breath out of me. You need to lose weight."

"I'm injured. You can't blame me for that."

"Damn it, Fili, what's that poking into me?"

"."

In the dim cave, the members of the Company who had just slid down through the opening above were all piled together.

As they got to their feet one by one, Gandalf began counting heads.

"One, two, three, four... fourteen, fifteen."

"Why are there only fifteen? Who's missing?"

Gandalf quickly looked around after finishing his count.

Bilbo suddenly spoke up. "Gandalf, you forgot to count yourself."

"Oh, right. I'm getting muddled."

Gandalf patted Bilbo on the shoulder and laughed.

Just then, a Dwarf asked, "I don't think I can hear those Wargs howling anymore. Can we rest for a while?"

"No!"

"Of course not!"

Gandalf and Thorin Oakenshield spoke at the same time.

"We're still not far from the Orcs. Those Gundabad Wargs have keen noses. They could find us at any moment."

"We should leave here first. We can rest once we're completely safe."

Gandalf continued.

Thorin Oakenshield said nothing, clearly thinking the same.

Soon, the Company continued on its way.

But this time, instead of the forests in the hilly terrain they had been traversing earlier, they entered a narrow stone passage.

Gandalf continued to lead, with Morgan following close beside him.

The passage was dim and long.

Near the entrance, the light from above still reached them, so it wasn't too dark.

But the farther in they went, the darker it became.

At last, after walking thirty or forty meters, the narrow passage was completely black.

"It's too dark in here. Gandalf, can you make it a little brighter?"

Dori, the Dwarf who was always the most curious about wizards, kindly spoke up to ask.

Gandalf didn't answer. He simply raised his staff to his mouth and blew on the black crystal set at its tip.

The black crystal soon began to emit a faint light.

"It's still not bright enough. Gandalf, can you make it brighter?" Dori earnestly asked again.

Gandalf looked helpless. "This is as bright as it gets."

"All right."

Dori stopped pressing him.

Holding the staff that gave off a faint glow, Gandalf continued forward.

With the staff lighting the way, the group made much better progress.

The farther the stone passage went, the darker and narrower it became.

More than ten minutes later.

Morgan followed Gandalf to a stop in front of a low cave.

The stone passage beside them was narrow, but Morgan could just about squeeze through with his sturdy build.

The cave before them, however, made him feel uneasy.

The cave, which seemed to have formed naturally, was far too small.

Morgan held up his hand to estimate its size. It was only a little larger than his own body.

The entrance was small and dark.

Anyone with claustrophobia probably wouldn't even have the courage to stand in front of it.

Just looking at it made a wave of oppressive dread wash over him.

"What's going on up ahead?"

"Are we going outside?"

The Dwarves called out from behind them.

The narrow passage was now only wide enough for one person to walk through.

With the front of the line stopped, the whole group was effectively blocked.

"It'll be fine soon."

"We'll be outside in no time. We just have to crawl a little farther."

Gandalf's reply immediately drew the Dwarves' attention.

The Dwarves at the front could see the cave entrance by the faint light from his staff.

Those behind them weren't sure what Gandalf meant by crawling a little farther.

The Dwarves at the back kept asking questions.

Gandalf didn't answer again. Instead, he looked at Morgan, whose expression seemed troubled. "What's wrong? Are you feeling unwell?"

Morgan shook his head. "No. I just don't like being in places like this."

It was easy to imagine: they were already in a narrow, dark stone passage, and now they had to squeeze into an even narrower, darker cave.

Just imagining it was enough to feel oppressive.

Hearing Morgan's answer, Gandalf couldn't help pausing in surprise. He truly hadn't expected someone as skilled at Archery as Morgan to still be unused to this sort of place.

"It's all right. You'll get used to it after a few more times."

Seeing that Morgan wasn't joking, Gandalf reached out and patted him on the shoulder reassuringly.

Then he lowered his head, bent over, and crawled into the dark cave.

Although Morgan felt uncomfortable, he wasn't the sort to make a fuss.

Right behind Gandalf, he bent down and squeezed inside.

Morgan wasn't the only one who felt oppressed.

But Gandalf and Morgan had already gone in, and they were at the front of the line.

The Dwarves had no choice but to follow, steeling themselves.

The Dwarves were short, but their builds were just as broad as Morgan's.

Bombur, especially, was extremely corpulent.

One after another, the Dwarves deftly squeezed into the cave.

When it was Bombur's turn, they finally ran into trouble.

As soon as he squeezed through the entrance, Bombur got stuck.

In the end, they had to strip off all the clothes and leather armor he was wearing.

Bombur managed to squeeze inside only after being left in nothing but a pair of oversized underpants.

Poor Dori, who was stuck behind him, had to keep pushing Bombur forward.

After a good deal of struggling.

The Expedition Team finally all made it into the cave.

They slowly wormed their way forward through the dark, narrow, cramped passage like maggots.

Bofur, the Dwarf, finally couldn't help speaking up. "A cave this cramped reminds me of a mine."

"What do you think would happen if it collapsed?"

"Shut up!"

"Damn it, shut up, Bofur!"

Bofur's words set off a storm, and the Dwarves immediately shouted angrily at him.

"All right, all right. I'll shut up."

"I just said what you're all too afraid to say."

"Besides, it's not as though our mines have never collapsed before."

Bofur's voice grew quieter and quieter.

He knew he'd said the wrong thing and angered everyone, but he was too stubborn to keep the words bottled up.

"Shut your foul mouth!"

"Damn it, just shut up, Bofur!"

"You're getting more and more annoying."

"."

The Dwarves all joined in scolding Bofur for saying the wrong thing.

The sudden commotion in the dark cave eased some of Morgan's oppressive feelings.

Morgan let out a few long breaths, then looked up at Gandalf ahead of him and asked, "Gandalf, how much farther do we have to go?"

"Just a little longer."

"Are you all right, Morgan?"

"I'm fine. I was just asking."

For the rest of the journey through the cave,

the Dwarves' incessant bickering served as a welcome distraction.

Gandalf also chatted with Morgan from time to time.

That did a great deal to ease the oppressive feeling Morgan had been experiencing.

Time passed slowly.

At last, a bright light appeared ahead in the cave.

They had finally reached the end of the pitch-black, cramped, suffocating passage.

"Ah, we're finally out!"

"I've never longed for the light as much as I did today!"

"It's good to be alive!"

As the members of the Expedition Team groaned and crawled out of the cave, the moment they stood outside—

Everyone was stunned.