Of Wraiths and Kings, and Friends and Rings (Calling All Nazgul)

[Earniel]

Thursday, noon
Nîn-In-Eilph, Linthárvar

"Halindel!" Nardol called out, "a message arrived!"

Halindel came out of the house, her pen still in hand. Nardol expertly crossed the narrow rope-bridge that connected the houses and handed her the small message. Calaros came out to join them as well.

"A message? here?"

"Yes. A falcon just dropped this."

Halindel rolled the message open and read. A frown formed on her forehead.

"Strange, it's not from Eärniel," Halindel said, "but from someone named Mahtaliel. Claiming pirate ships have been spotted coming up the river, intending to strike at Tharbad."

"Pirates? They're a long way from their usual haunts... Curious. But I know the name Mahtaliel." Calaros said. "Her name came up once in a while when we were still trading with the Gwaith-I-MÃ*rdain. Never heard of her again afterwards. But then again we never heard of a lot of people afterwards. It's possible she survived."

"The note seems genuine enough." Halindel said quietly, thinking. She turned towards Nardol. "How are the changes going?"

"We're ahead of schedule but not yet near completing them. The reconstructions are almost finished, but the waterworks need more time."

"Pity," Halindel said, "they could already have been put to use... But it does not matter."

She handed the message back to Nardol.

"And what should we do with this?" Nardol asked, indicating the message.

"Tharbad has good defenses and enough guards," Calaros said. "The pirates don't know what they're getting themselves into. If Eärniel didn't reckon she'd be safe there, we'll be seeing her come this way in an hour or two. But I doubt it. The pirates are unlikely to ever get past the city; and if they're wise they'd know they'll never get past the marches with large boats. I doubt they even know we're here. We need not to worry."

"Indeed." Halindel added. "But we'll batter down the hatches just in case. Oh, and ask one of the swans if it wants to deliver something to Tharbad from me? In the light of recent events, I think Eärniel forgot to pack one or two things..."

[sun-star]

Thursday, before noon

Oreturion and Estelmo were sitting together when a servant entered and handed a note to Oreturion, saying that it had been brought by a falcon. Oreturion read the brief message, frowned, and passed it to Estelmo without a word.

When he had read it, the older man whistled. "We had intelligence of this, didn't we? I suppose we're ready for an attack?"

"Rumours only, but the King was adamant that we should make preparations nonetheless. We must let him know - where is he?"

"I think he had classes this morning - probably still at the university."

"Well," Oreturion said deliberately, "I shall go and find him. Will you inform the necessary people?"

"Of course."

[Rían]

Thursday and onward,
in the countryside outside of Tharbad

Tyaron took a moment to master his emotions, then turned back to face the brother and sister.

He's gonna run! thought Alagos in amazement, reading his friend's body language and suddenly putting together all of the clues he had been observing since Tyaron's return. What in the world happened on that trip?

Tyaron took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "And now it's time for goodbye," he said solemnly, just as he had planned. "I need to get this dagger back in time for the coming-of-age celebration, and after that, I'm going to head back to the havens. I need to find a place where I can fight against the wrongs that are still in this world, as Aegnor did. And like him, that is best done alone. That's what I'm cut out for, and it's time that I take it up again."

Turning to RÃ*an, he said gently (watching himself and admiring the scene), "I leave you in good hands. Your brother will take excellent care of you, and you of him, I'm sure." Stepping up to her, he kissed her lightly on the forehead and added, "I'll always treasure the memories of our friendship." RÃ*an just stared at him, taken completely by surprise at his proposed departure, and not sure what to say or do yet. She looked at Alagos with a perplexed and somewhat frightened expression on her face. Reading his sister's expression confirmed what he had been seeing in her since Tyaron's return.

Tyaron turned to Alagos to start the next scene in his departure. He embraced his long-time friend, ready to start the next farewell speech, but received an un-planned-for surprise when Alagos stood stiffly and made no move to return the embrace. Tyaron pressed on, though. "And I'll always treasure the memories of our friendship throughout the long years we travelled together and fought together, side by side. Take good care of your sister!" Pulling back, he looked at Alagos's face, and was surprised and rather uneasy at its expression.

"So, you're jilting my sister, then?" asked Alagos evenly. "If that's your plan, then you know what that forces me to do - and I'll do it, too!" Alagos pushed Tyaron's hands off of his shoulders with an expression of disgust, trying purposefully to goad Tyaron to lose his self-control. If he loses it, maybe he'll spill what happened on that trip - I know something must have happened to make him want so desperately to leave us now! thought Alagos, desperately casting about for ways to force his friend to speak, for he had rebuffed all of Alagos's previous attempts to talk about the trip.

Tyaron stood quietly for a moment, breathing hard, fighting the anger that was starting to well up in him, hot and wild. How dare Alagos use that repugnant word for what he was doing? Of course he wasn't jilting her - she never wanted him in the first place! He was just taking the noble way out, even though it hurt him. And Alagos was mocking him!

Tyaron took a deep breath. "What is this, brother? You kno ..."

Alagos interrupted angrily. "If you're leaving my sister in this dishonorable way, don't you DARE call me 'brother'!"

Tyaron clenched his jaw, struggling to push down the anger that was rising in him even higher and stronger now, dangerously close to overwhelming him. Alagos stared at him intently, trying to think of how to push him over the edge. He knew it was a dangerous ploy, but he felt that there was no other way to find out what had happened, and if he didn't find out, Tyaron would be gone forever.

"You know," repeated Tyaron, his teeth clenched in anger, "that she doesn't want my courtship and never did. I forced it on her, and you went along with it. We were both wrong, and I want to correct that wrong and then go do something that I can do right."

"RÃ*an," said Alagos to his sister, but not taking his eyes off of Tyaron, "do you want Tyaron to leave?"

"No," she replied.

Tyaron's mouth dropped open in sheer amazement as he broke the staring contest with Alagos to look at RÃ*an.

"I thought not," said Alagos. "Well?" he threw back at Tyaron. "Are you still going to jilt her?"

Tyaron's anger had a new direction now - the slender maiden looking at him out of big, dark eyes, who had thwarted him all of his life.

[Udukhaturz]

"How did you know we were here?" asked Captain Ollotarnon of Umbar.

The man of Captain Shah's patrol stood with his hands tied behind his back, a guard at each side, in front of Captain Ollotarnon and Captain Ulfast. The man had drunk too much wine and had fallen asleep under a giant tree in a dense thicket, which was only a tiny fraction of the great forest that lined the river on both sides for miles.

"We smelled you," the prisoner replied, trying to hide the smirking grin on his face.

"Smelled us?" Captain Ollotarnon shouted, totally baffled. "How did you do that?"

"Look, you dirty, ignorant barbarian savage, the people of Tharbad have mutated such astounding olfactory senses that they can scent smoke from two hundred kilometers away! We can smell a campfire five hundred kilometers as though it were right in front of us. Why, it is known by everyone that that Elendil could smell the reek of Númenor after it had sunk beneath the waves, and he walked upon the shores of Middle-earth! In fact, when there is a feast in Valinor, we can catch the wafting zephyrs of the delightful banquet food of the Valar."

"Amazing!" exclaimed Captain Ulfast. "No one in Harad can detect odors more than three to five kilometers!"

"Extraordinary!" cried Captain Ollotarnon. "How do you explain this?"

"Because we are better than you people, that is why," the man shrugged. "We can do lots of other things, too, that you primitives cannot. We can even hear the sounds of the flutes and guitars of the elves of Tol Eressea in their times of celebration, and listen for the seagulls cry as they fly about the shores, looking for holy elf garbage."

"We noticed your astounding abilities," Captain Ulfast murmured sadly. "Your men reached us in astronomically quick speed from Tharbad, and they were mounted on such unusually fast horses!"

"Yes, a journey of three hundred miles or more in one day is nothing for them," the man said smugly. "Actually, the sky is the limit for them."

"How do you do it?" the two captains asked in unison.

"We feed them a special kind of oats blended with charcoal, sulfur and saltpeter, throw in lots of cabbages, lentils and Elven-enchanted herbs. This mixture expands in the horses' intestines, producing gaseous fuel that when expelled creates a backwards thrust that propels the beast forward. The black smoke sometimes is a problem with those with sensitive noses, but the gains justify this minor inconvenience."

"Fascinating!" Captain Ollotarnon gasped. "We must develop this amazing method of horse propulsion!"

"You people are amazing!" exclaimed Captain Ulfast. "How do you explain the horse's method of traveling over the flooded river bottoms with water up to their hocks?"

"That is simple enough," the captive said. "We have built platforms constructed from the many trees in the vast forests along the river. We give the horses another feeding of special oats and they just lift off and fly over the flooded land. Someday we plan on sending fleets of them to the moon and colonizing other planets, and then it is on to the stars!"

"I am awed!" said Captain Ulfast. "We primitive savages in Harad are powerless against such methods. Our oliphants just eat regular food. Perhaps if I live to get back home, I will tell this secret to our people, and we could use this feed to make our mumaks fly."

"I think that is a very good idea, Captain Ulfast. Just think you could fly the oliphants over the battlefield, and when the gas limit reduces, the beasts could just fall down on the field and crush the enemy. Perhaps enough of them released simultaneously could break the enemy's walls. It would be a great way to end a siege, and our enemy would be hard-pressed to rid themselves of the corpses of the rotting mumaks." The captain pulled his beard, a musing look upon his face. "There should be a name for this. What could it be?"

"Biological warfare?" the captive suggested snidely.

"Great idea! I like the way you think! The dead mumaks will bring rats and disease to the besieged cities! We could fly the sickly ones over, and tie some lepers to the diseased mumak. That would clear the cities out quickly!" the two Captains echoed in unison.

"By the way," Captain Ulfast asked, "how did that causeway suddenly appear that was not marked on any maps?"

"We carried the components of giant pontoon bridges in our saddle bags. These pontoons are inflatable. We simply hooked tubes up to the horses and siphoned off the excess gas to inflate the pontoons. There you see before you the magnificent floating causeway."

"How did you know about Greek fire?" the Captain said, looking closely into the man's face.

"Old Numenorean secret. If you had been on the right side, you would have known about it," the captive said gleefully. "Do you not know the real reason why Numenor was sunk?"

"No, we do not!" the Captain said, all ears, walking closer to the young man. "Tell us the secret!"

"King Ar-Phazaron's engineers and scientists had developed what someday will be known as 'napalm.' He was given this information by his Advisor, whom some say was none other than the Dark Lord! When the Valar divined the workings of this cunning evil - I mean it was really evil! - they called on Eru and sank the island. Now, I will tell you something else if you come closer, Captain. This is for none other than your ears."

"Tell us! Tell us!" the man said, almost beside himself at learning of this new knowledge.

"Some say that the Dark Lord told Ar-Phazaron - through information that He had gotten from the first Dark Lord - you know about that little affair the first one had with Arien?" the captive said conspiratorially.

"Yes, we know, we know!"

"Anyway, Captains, it is told that the second Dark Lord gave Ar-Phazaron the secret of unlocking the power of the sun. With this information, Ar-Phazaron planned to knock out half of the Pelori Mountains and after that, it would be easy going for his men to storm Valimar."

"Gadzooks! We are undone!" Captain Ollotarnon bleated. "We know of no such thing!"

"If you ignorant barbarians ever catch up with us, you might be able to do something. Always remember, though, whatever your best thinkers devise, our men will always be ten steps ahead of them. That is because all of you are inferior!"

"By the way, I am not a dirty barbarian savage," Captain Ollotarnon said with a hurt look on his face. "My ancestors were from Númenor, the same as yours!"

"Yes, but it does not count with the like of you!" the young man chortled triumphantly.

"Captain Ollotarnon, I am truly impressed with this young man who seems to be a right stalwart young fellow. We have learned much from him, and I intend to take the knowledge back to Harad."

"Harad?" the Captain from Umbar thought evilly. "They might start getting too big for their britches if they have such knowledge and attack us! I can never let such potentially dangerous information ever reach Harad. The only one that knows about it, though, are Captain Ulfast and these two sailors. But they will never live to tell the tale!" he thought, a mad gleam appearing in his eye.

Captain Ollotarnon quickly unsheathed his sword and stabbed Captain Ulfast in the heart before he could draw his own blade, but not before Captain Ulfast's two men had dealt him a mortal blow. As the two captains lay dying on the deck of the ship, they embraced each other, and the young man, moved by this tragic plight, fell crying across their bloodied chests. Both captains were so impressed by this show of magnanimousness on the part of the young captive that they each adopted him as his son and named him their sole heir.

So it was that when the young man was rowed back to the great forest and freed, he had two gold medallions about his neck, glittering rings upon his fingers and a gold earring in one ear, and two large bags of gold hung upon each shoulder. The young Arnorian was already making plans to claim his inheritance in both Harad and Umbar. Inside his tunic, he held a marriage contract signed in proxy between him and Captain Ulfast's eldest daughter, who was a stunningly beautiful woman, rich beyond belief in her own right.

The men who rowed the rich young captive across, though, were exceptionally shrewd, and managed to steal one of Captain Shah's cavalry horses. Thus it was that the fleet sped back down the river, faster than the eye could perceive, their sails all billowing out, propelled by the black sulfuric smoke of one single flatulent Arnorian steed.

[Lady Marion Magdalena]

Interlude in the West.

Far to the west, beyond the normal plane of existence in a remote wing of the Halls of Mandos, Vaire the Weaver returned from her bi-centennial bathroom break and found a giant tangle in her most recent tapestry.

With a sigh of exasperation she sat down and began to unravel the problem area. This always happened when she was unable to keep a close eye on the weaving of history and while it was irritating, it was relatively simple to fix.

Simply unravel to this point-

Re-weave that encounter...

Change a few tid-bits here and there and voila!

The repaired tapestry showed a battle on a flooded river. The bad weather putting both sides at a disadvantage. With the river risen and spread over the near part of the surrounding plain the only pieces of ground not turned to mud were a thicket of trees on the north bank and the stone causeway that followed the river to the south.

It was an odd battle, Vaire reflected, with the pirates in their longboats turning to flee downriver, against the wind. Driven off by the hurriedly gathered defenders who seemed more concerned with pulling their injured men from the mud than with chasing their attackers.

Holding her shuttle at the ready Vaire sat back, relaxed and waiting to see the outcome...

[Udukhaturz]

"Captain Ulfast, all the men on all the ships signed a pact before we left port. It is time now for that pact to take effect."

"Captain Ollotarnon, the poison has already been administered to the wounded, and they are breathing their last at this moment."

The two men watched as the last man was given the cup of poison. The draught was a quick one and the man died as soon as it reached his mouth. On the flagship, the sailors were raising their cups of death in toast to their countries. The two captians watched as the men all fell to the deck, dead.

"To Umbar and to death!" Captain Ollotarnon said as he drained the cup of poison.

"To Umbar and Harad!" Captain Ulfast, a smile of triumph upon his face, said as he drained his cup to the dregs.

The ships drifted aimlessly upon the river, their passengers now only dead men.

Namo sat in the halls of Mandos scowling at his spouse Vaire. "I have issued the call to the spirits of the dead Umbarians and Haradrim who slew themselves rather than be dishonored by capture. It is my invitation for them to come here. Vaire," he said, looking at her sternly, "never again attempt to meddle in the affairs of destiny that were determined long ago by the One!"

[Lady Marion Magdalena]

Vaire gave her spouse a Look.

"I was not meddling. I merely repaired the record of events, it is you who meddled by calling the souls of mortals to your halls when you know that the One has decreed a different path for them. But do as you wish. I'm sure the forces from Tharbad would thank you for making their victory easier. Now go, hold your peace doomsman and welcome your souls whilst I attend to history. The pirates wounded many before they despaired and drank the poison and I must record the outcome."

Chastised for his unprovoked sharpness, Namo bowed to his wife and left her to her duty.

[Rían]

The families of Captain Ollotarnon and Captain Ulfast were wailing and beating their breasts in agony over the awful news, when an official-looking person walked up to their houses of mourning and gave an official rap on their doors.

The doors were opened by servants, and the officials marched in, demanding to see the widows. The widows looked up with misgiving and fear at the officials, and shook with fear as they were served with papers.

They opened the papers with dread and misgiving, and then screamed in terror and passed out. The trusted servants picked up the papers, scanned them, and sighed.

"What is it?" demanded the guests in hushed anticipation.

"A lawsuit from PETA for leaving a flatulent Arnorian steed alone and unattended on their ship!"

[Rían]

Thursday and onward,
in the countryside outside of Tharbad

Tyaron took a step closer to RÃ*an. This couldn't be happening - this wasn't how he had planned it - she had to let him go, or he would have to tell her what he did, and he could never live through the shame of that. "You NEVER..." he started angrily, then stop and shook himself and forced his fists to unclench and his voice to soften to a level that, in his opinion, was appropriate to address a woman. "You never wanted my advances, either here or in Gondolin - never! You fought me all the way when I forced this courtship on you! You don't want to marry me, and you never did!"

"She says she doesn't want you to go," interrupted Alagos. "And since she said that, you're bound by your word of honor to stay and court her for a year, unless and until she releases you earlier. You forced it on her without her wanting it and expected her to honor it. Now that the tables are turned, are you going to do any less? That's beneath you, Tyaron," said Alagos disdainfully, still trying to goad his friend into losing his temper.

Tyaron ignored Alagos - he was afraid that he would completely lose it if he answered him. He would work on RÃ*an instead - he HAD to get away from them now, while they didn't know what he had done...

He found it hard to talk when all his senses were telling him to strike out, but again, he forced the anger down and appealed to her. "RÃ*an, I'm so sorry I did that to you - I should have never forced the courtship on you like that. It was wrong of me, and I ask your forgiveness. And I ask you to release me from this courtship - we both know it would never work - it was never meant to be. You've never felt anything for me but friendship - and that's what I feel for you now, too."

"Don't let him go, RÃ*an, he's lying!" shouted Alagos, determined to stop his friend from running away. "Hold him to his word!"

RÃ*an looked back and forth between the two angry men, not quite sure what to do. She had never, EVER seen them disagree like this. Something was deeply wrong here, and she was trying to determine what it was while surrounded by the storm of their angry feelings and words. Something told her it was very important to find out ...

Alagos saw that Tyaron was successfully gaining control over his temper again and struck out once more. He pushed Tyaron's shoulder and mocked, "You coward! You would lie to a woman to get out of your pledge?" But that wasn't good enough - Tyaron was still controlling his temper, although Alagos could see that he was right on the edge. He must want really desperately to get away! thought Alagos, "It must be something against his honor somehow! He decided to try one more thing - apparently Tyaron could ignore a personal insult in his desperation to get away, but could he stand one directed at RÃ*an?

Alagos looked at RÃ*an with an imploring look in his eyes, as if to say, "Just trust me!", and then took the plunge.

"Oh, come on, Tyaron - just stay and court her. She'll probably never marry otherwise - she's no prize, after all! - we both know she's a bit slow on the uptake and she certainly is no young maiden in her first bloom anymore ..."

That did it. Tyaron completely lost it. He aimed a blow at Alagos, and although it was partially blocked by Alagos's quick reactions, it still connected hard. Alagos hit the ground, but managed to quickly roll and avoid the follow-up blow, aided by the fact that Tyaron was so angry that he could hardly see straight. Spitting out the blood that was welling in his mouth, Alagos leapt up as RÃ*an screamed out, "Stop! STOP! STOP IT!" and grabbed Tyaron's arm.

"Let go!" he yelled at her, trying to shake her off without hurting her. "He insulted you!" He yelled furiously at Alagos, "How DARE you insult her! How DARE you do that! I'll KILL you!"

"ME insult her?" Alagos spat back, and then played his guess. "YOU'RE the one that insulted her, you cad, you coward, you oath-breaker! Tell her what happened when you were gone! TELL her!"

Alagos's guess that something happened was right on the mark, and his words drove straight to Tyaron's heart like a sword. Before he knew what he was saying, Tyaron cried out to RÃ*an, "I was with a prostitute! I was with a prostitute when I was courting you! Don't you see why I'm trying to get away from you now?"

Alagos stared at him in horror. Of all the things that he thought Tyaron might have done wrong, that one would have never occurred to him as even remotely possible. As the words sank in - a man courting his sister went with a prostitute?! - Alagos saw red, and with a cry of fury, he ran up to Tyaron and hit him as hard as he could. Tyaron, putting up no defense for the blow he felt he fully deserved, fell heavily to the ground, stunned and senseless.

[Udukhaturz]

When the fighting in the dungeon was at last over and all the guests except Lilaenwen had gone, Maethor freed Lilly and took her upstairs to the red salon. He poured her a goblet of wine and brought it to her as she sat on the divan.

"My lady, I understand you have shown an appreciation for the art in my bedchambers. You have admirable tastes, Lilaenwen, and are obviously an art connoisseur the same as I. Therefore, I am giving all the paintings to you. Sell them in the market, give them away, throw them in the river; it matters not to me. I no longer have need of them. My men are at this time loading the portraits in the wain in which you will ride back to your home after you have finished your goblet of wine."

Lilly looked at him in surprise, almost shock. "Thank you, Maethor. I am in awe of your marvelous collection."

"Enjoy the collection, Lilaenwen. It is yours. Now it is farewell."

She rose to her graceful feet, and he, taking her hand, brought it to his lips and kissed it.

"Farewell, Maethor," she said.

Before Ulfang left with Lilly, Maethor handed him a note, his notice of resignation at the university with a quickly jotted comment, "Chancellor, if you ever should have need of me, you know how to reach me."

When Ulfang had returned after taking Lilaenwen home and delivering the message to the Chancellor, Udu called his five men and Tatyana together in the red salon.

"Ulfang, I name you successor to me to rule over my domain in the East. You other four men are to rule with him as his advisors. For your long years of service to me, I give you my wife Tatyana and two other of my wives back in the East. To you other men, I give you two of my wives each." He then named which wife was to go to which man.

"Pack provisions and such things as you wish to take with you. I will gather up what I wish to take and will be back with you in a few minutes."

He left the group in the salon, went to his bedchambers where he packed a small bag, strapped his long sword to a harness on his back, armed himself with his daggers and knives and his short sword. After he was satisfied, he went to his chest and took out a long, black cowled cloak and cast it about himself.

When all was in readiness for their departure, Maethor and his group stood outside the house. Maethor bowed his head and said words in an esoteric language: "Let no stone be left standing."

"Torch the building," he ordered the men. "Set fires upstairs and down, and let the house burn to the ground."

Maethor mounted his horse and rode down the street, halted his animal and turned back to see the flames rising, shooting out of the roof of the house. He waited there a long while and heard people waking up, screaming at the sight of the fire. Even at this distance, he could hear the great crash when the house caved in and crumpled to a burning mass of ruin.

Intoning the proper spells, he vanished from all human sight, and only his saddled and bridled horse could be seen galloping away from Tharbad through the mists.

[Rían]

Thursday and onward,
in the countryside outside of Tharbad

"You idiot!" yelled Rian at Alagos as she bent over Tyaron's unconscious body. "Why did you do that? One look at his eyes would have told you that they weren't together as man and wife!"

Alagos looked at his sister in disbelief. "You don't care, then? It doesn't matter to you? He can do anything but sleep with another woman while courting you and you're fine with it?"

"No, I'm not 'fine' with it - I think it was wrong of him. But I do things that are wrong, too, Alagos - and so do you. Something has changed in him since that trip, and I like the change, and that's why I don't want him to go. I want to see if it will finally work out, after all these years."

"And besides," she continued quietly, "it's partly my fault."

"What he did was NOT your fault! Everyone is responsible for what they choose to do!"

"Yes, of course they are - but my choices, that I was responsible for, made it easier for him to choose to do something that was wrong. People don't live in isolation, Alagos - we have great power to influence others for good - or evil ... I need to ask his forgiveness for how I've wronged him."

"Well, he'd better ask you for your forgiveness, too," muttered Alagos, still angry at his friend's betrayal of his sister.

She stroked Tyaron's cheek softly. "That's up to him..."

[Gordis]

Early hours of Thursday, the Observatory.

The wind howled outside, the drops of rain lashed furiously the roof and windows of the small Observatory building. Oblivious to elements, Aiwendis sat motionless, hugging herself tightly, her goblet forgotten on the table.

The sound of the opening door tore her from her reverie. The Morgul Lord entered, took of his long hooded cloak and wiped the droplets of rain from his face.

He was in a pensive mood, as always, when the wind carried the smell of the sea. Noticing tears on Aiwendis's lashes, he asked her gentler than usual: "What is the matter, Gordie?"

Something broke inside her, and she wept on his chest.

"My love, it is unbearable. You have changed so much, the mere thought of the Ring is ruining your soul! Already you have ordered poor Lilly tortured. How could you?"

The pale King sighed in reply. He was not a little fond of the charming Lilly and regretted his earlier decision.

Encouraged, Aiwendis drew him closer and whispered into his ear. "I can't stand being used as a bait in your trap. I don't want to be married to another man, be he the High King himself! I love you, you alone!"

She wept harder, shaking with sobs. "I hate this place, I can't stand it anymore. Let us go South to Umbar, where we used to be so happy! Let us abandon the bleak North. Take me there, I beg you!"

The Morgul Lord closed his eyes. He was tired of playing the Chancellor. Moreover, he hated Elves, oh how he hated them! He was not used to bow his head to anybody. At length, it has become taxing.

Lately he had another vivid dream. He saw the One Ring, buried in the river's mud, making its slow progress downstream... to the Sea. If the dream were prophetic indeed, then it would make its way to Osgiliath and then to Pelargir...eventually. He had to wait for it in the South.

His decision finally made, he bent to Aiwendis and kissed her quivering lips. "I love you Gordie, I will do as you wish. To Umbar I shall take you."

She was so happy, she had nothing to say, only hugged him tightly.

***
Before the first light, three tall figures, wrapped in dark cloaks, made their way over the bridge. They were followed by several pack horses, heavily laden with gold and precious gems taken from the secret dungeons of the Tower. Sapthan had filled his saddlebags with the best esoteric books from the Library.

They crossed the bridge and were out of sight of the Gondorean guards, when the tallest of the riders suddenly stopped and turned his horse facing North. He lifted his hand and uttered a spell in the Dark Tongue. Trice he cried. A flash of searing lightning illuminated the old Minas Aran Tower. A sudden explosion followed, and the Tower tumbled in riven fragments to the ground with all of its turrets, and vaults, and hidden stairs, its dungeons, its Scroptorium and the books of lore and whisdom - all perished forever.

Nodding in dark satisfaction, the Morgul Lord and his followers turned their steeds and disappeared in darkness.

[Lady Marion Magdalena]

Shah watched as the two combatants glared at each other through the shower of sparks, weapons still connected and aloft. As he was standing in the shadows observing this memory, there was the silver figure standing next to him, watching as well.

"You surprised me." The words echoed out from the figure at his side.

"Guess I should've known better." He turned to look at her, "I thought I told you to remember your armor come time to help us."

Her leather apron was shredded, exposing the silver of the chainmail beneath. Her hair was coming loose from its braid and spectacular bruises were forming on her face. She was appeared dripping wet, and blood was mixing with the water pooling around her feet. In her hand left hand she held a giant mace, the head covered in gore.

"There wasn't time." They turned their attentions back to their younger selves.

They had lowered the improvised weapons and Mahta was eyeing him warily, "You blocked me."

"I was expecting it. I guess Erestor won the bet."

"Bet?"

"He and another elf. They sent me here, I overheard them betting that you would give the first blow."

"Hm."

"How do you stand being in here during the summer?" The heat inside the forge was oppressive.

Mahta frowned, "It shouldn't be this warm..."

The vision dissolved around them and they were left standing in the center of a weighty nothingness that shrank inwards, constricting the senses and making breath impossible-
And then they were falling up, down, sideways, in all directions at once; He was replaced in her vision by swirling strands of polished gold and falling gems and coming down to crush her
one
giant
hand...

"Professor?" Mahta's eyes snapped open, even as she struck out without registering who it was standing above her.

Ignatius dodged the blow and stood to the side, watching as his former teacher awoke more fully and took in her surroundings. The dining room of the public school had been set up as a temporary infirmary for those who had been hurt fighting downriver. Fortunately there hadn't been too many, most of the injuries were from accidents caused by the nasty weather, but the men from the original patrol and a few of those who had been in the forefront of the reinforcements had caught it bad.

"Ignatius?"

"You're back in Tharbad, Professor. It's all over."

"What happened?"

"Story's a bit muddy."

"Too much rain..."

"Well yes, that too."

"Shah?"

"Arrow to the gut. He'll be fine, Fionne and Doc have been taking care of him."

"The boys?"

"Will still be annoying you in class. Though they did manage to gain quite a few new scars."

"How many dead?"

"Not near as many as there might've been."

"Not an answer."

"You won't be getting one till you're better yourself, Professor."

"I did something stupid, didn't I?"

"Well... they said you went a little... berserk. Wreaked havoc with the pirates, but let yourself get pretty beat up."

"Oh. ... . But the pirates are gone?"

"They took poison when they saw they were losing."

Ignatius watched her process this information, visibly relaxing once it sunk in. Remebering why he had woken her in the first place he picked up the mug he had brought in with him, "Doc says you're to drink this, Professor. It'll help you sleep."

Mahta nodded and let him give it to her, "Give him my thanks." She said, and drifted back to sleep.

[Serenoli]

Before he left, the Chancellor had to tie quite a few loose ends, and one of them was Jas. He released him from the memory spell, all things considered. After all, he had revenged himself sufficiently with that frog spell... a slight smile crossed his face at the memory... and besides, it served no purpose. Enough tongues would wag at their secret departure, and the ravings of a perpetually drunk Professor would count least amongst them.

Back at the University, Jas's mind cleared instantly, and he remembered everything... almost. As he went over the hazy recollections of the last two days, he concluded, not unnaturally, that it had all been a result of excessive drinking. His face reddening at the thought of the spectacle he had made of himself, and rendered as shy as he had always been, Jas found himself for some time, speechless. Eventually, he murmured his profuse apologies to her, and his thanks, and was glad, when the elf accepted his explanation, and left. She was lovely and had been very kind to him, but his embarrasment had been too acute for comfort.

A few minutes later, when he was more composed, he remembered his old dependable friend Bumbledore. He found a vintage in the cellar, one stored and hidden in his private collection for years- it came from his father's vineyards, and he wondered if Bumble would be able to guess it. Smugly, he thought, very likely not.

He made his way to his friend's apartments, and found him just awake, with his blue eye wide-open and shining, a cheery smile on his broad face, and a funny anecdote on his lips. Already, as he forced the cork carefully, Jas was thinking of how the two of them would laugh over Jas' recent adventures. And, maybe they could take the donkeys out for a race later at night. Jas had not forgotten losing to Bumble last time thay had raced, and was determined to win this time at least. He smiled as he accompanied Bumble on a second breakfast. It was good to be back in his old routine... very good.

And here we leave our two professors, sipping wine, and planning their new adventures. I have heard that the two managed to buy into a partnership on a good vineyard, which let them retire from the University. But that was many years later... I am also exceedingly glad to inform the reader, that Jas never in his life encountered a Nazgul again. And for those who are wondering, yes, Jas did win the donkey race that evening.

***


As Tolvadok left Udu's house that night, his thoughts and emotions were varied. What he knew for sure, was that he could not stay with his fellow-Nazgul anymore. Khamul's words had come as a shock, but he had had enough presence of mind not to give in to his first impulse. Udu and Khamul together would really have killed him off. The later fight, when he had not even been alone proved that.

But, now he knew what he had refused to see for so long, that he and the others were no longer united in loyalty to the Master. They would find the Ring, but never restore it to its rightful owner, and as such, they were as much his enemies as the Elves he hated so much. He would leave Tharbad and find Sauron, and then, the Dark Lord would give him the rank he deserved for his loyalty.

He packed that night, and dressed all in black again, tall and intimidating, he prepared to leave. As his horse passed the Red Herring, however, a new line of thoughts opened up. Yerri... he could yet be happy with her, if he chose. And, he did choose. She would not be here on Arda for long, not as long as himself, but he could have a life of happiness with her... and then, when she left, devote himself, mind and soul, to those who had driven away the purpose in his life. Once decided, the task before him was not easy. He had to persuade Yerri to leave her life behind, and come with him, and she resisted strongly at first. But he persevered, and then, she did come.

At the dead of night, Tolvadok, or Girithron, as he was called for as long as his loving wife lived, carried off his treasure far far away. Yerri did find the truth one day, but she never left him, not until Death carried her away, and Tolvadok resumed his former lonely life, until he was restored once more to his Master.

But their happiness, though unlikely and short-lived, was very great, and more than ever, the memory of that happiness sustained whatever was left good in him for many long years. It is not known whether he ever did die, and so maybe even now, his spirit wanders the earth, and maybe, popped into my head one day, so I could tell his story. But, he told me no more, then, for I know naught else of him. Here ends the story of Tolvadok.

[CrazySquirrel]

No one could tell for sure what happened to Lilaenwen after that faithful night, when the Library Tower went down in flames, and the Chancellor and his fair daughter disappeared for good along with some of the new Professors and students.

Some say they saw a beautiful green-eyed woman, with her hair shorn at the level of the neck, buying a red wig in the Valinor shop on the Menotar avenue. Some noticed a lonely flame-haired rider in a mink coat who left Tharbad by the East Gate carrying a big roll of canvas, as if it were some paintings. One scullery maid even said that the rider was a woman, whose stunningly beautiful face was wet from tears.

Actually, the day was so laden with horror, wonder and sorrow, that nobody really paid attention to things they would have usually gossiped about for days on end.

The Nine knew that she had left the constantly drunk Buz, and successfully avoided all the others for two thousand years, when she was called to Service by the Captain. Apart from that, few beings could tell, even her fellow nazgul.

There was this strange tale of the immortal Readhead Queen in the East, who became famous for hunting Elves and torturing them in the most cruel ways. One orc in Minas Morgul was caught telling his buddy that Lilaenwen the Sixth had kept a full harem of male elves for her private entertainment. It was clearly a pernicious lie, and the culprit was drawn and quartered and finally sent to the pot for dinner of his company.

When the Master returned, Lilly was sent to Dol Guldur, where she continued her Elf hunts, much to the Lord Khamul's satisfaction. What bugged him, though, was her habit to run unclad and unmounted through the woods shrieking horribly "I am a Crazy Mirkwood Squirrel". That habit, Khamul maintained, proved her mental instability, and lessened the awe and respect due to the Dark Lord's High Nazgul. So Lilly was transferred back to Minas Morgul and lived there in peace, drinking and flirting with the others till the very END.

[Rían]

Thursday and onward,
in the countryside outside of Tharbad

As Tyaron slowly regained consciousness, Alagos leaned over and whispered to RÃ*an, "I'll get out of earshot, but I'll stay within sight in case you need me."

"I'll be fine," said RÃ*an, as she shooed her brother away.

Tyaron slowly opened his eyes and looked up at RÃ*an. He smiled, and then as the memories came back, his smile turned wary and watchful. He sat up and rubbed his head while he gathered his thoughts. RÃ*an waited patiently for him to stop seeing stars, and gathered her own thoughts.

"Well," he finally said, and slowly stood up, steadying himself against the rock that had so recently met his head, "I guess you see why I need to leave you now. I didn't want you to find out, but I guess it's better this way - you won't regret my leaving now. I will not seek your forgiveness for what I did, for it is beyond forgiveness."

RÃ*an said matter-of-factly, "Isn't it up to me if it's beyond my forgiveness or not?"

Tyaron paused for a moment, and then said quietly, "But I can't even forgive myself ..."

"That's because you're pretty arrogant," she said, again in a matter-of-fact voice. "But that still doesn't let you off from asking my forgiveness, for you certainly wronged me."

Tyaron's chin had jerked up at the first sentence, his eyes angry, but then his eyes lowered again. "You're right," he said levelly. He shook his head. "I can't seem to do anything right around you," he added in an ironic voice. "But you're quite right - I do need to ask your forgiveness."

He lifted up his head again and looked her in the eyes, honestly and openly and, for the first time, as an equal. "I am sorry beyond words what I did to you. I'm sorry for all of the hurt my arrogance and pushiness has caused you. I most certainly do not deserve it, but I humbly ask for your forgiveness."

"I forgive you," she said simply but sincerely. "Yes, you've been arrogant and pushy, but that's not all you've been in all the years I've known you - you've also been honest and true and kind and noble and good and brave and ..."

He started to protest, but she stamped her foot angrily. "Will you just shut up and listen to me?" she said, her eyes flashing.

That got a rueful smile out of him, and he stopped his protests.

"... and funny, and I love your laugh, and I love how you sing. So yes, it was very wrong, but yes, I forgive you, heartily and completely."

"And now I need to ask you for your forgiveness," she continued quietly. "For I have wronged you, too." He looked quizzically at her, and she took a deep breath and continued. "I guess I am rather dense," she said, and waved off his protests impatiently. "I didn't figure out that you liked me until I overheard some of the girls talking about it. Then the next time I saw you, I ... well, I acted a little more friendly towards you than before, and watched your reaction, and ... well, I liked it, and I liked the feeling of power it gave me, and I liked that it made the other girls angry."

She paused, biting her lip, then forced herself to continue. "And I used that power over you, to manipulate you as I wanted to - keeping you close enough to stay interested so the other girls would be jealous and I would feel good, but far enough so that you wouldn't propose. I ... I'm not quite sure why - at first, I just wasn't ready for marriage, but then ... my father died, and ... and I saw what it did to my mother, and ..."

She looked up at him imploringly. "This isn't an excuse - what I did, I chose to do - but I hope it explains it a little - I just became so afraid to get really close to a man, because I was afraid that I might lose him, as my mother lost my father."

Tyaron reached out his arms towards her in compassion, for he knew how much her father's death had affected her, but RÃ*an shook her head and held him off. "No, no - let me finish - so I used you, intentionally and cruelly, for years, for my own selfish purposes - for pride, and to stave off my fears instead of dealing with them. And for that, I am truly, truly sorry, for if I had given you an answer one way or another, you wouldn't have been in this perpetual state of frustration, and it wouldn't have been so easy for you to have done what you did."

"What I did was my own fault," Tyaron said firmly. "And I can see why you reacted as you did - the loss of your father was a terrible blow."

"Yes, I know, but what I did was my own fault, and that helped you to do what you did - oh, I'm not excusing either one of us, I'm just trying to make sense of what happened. And I am so sorry for wronging you, and I humbly ask for your forgiveness, although I don't deserve it."

"You have it, most sincerely," he said, taking her hands in his.

They were quiet for a moment, and then RÃ*an asked shyly, "So, will you stay and court me now? I'd like to get to know you better ... what you did was wrong, but it changed you - you're different - and I'd like to get to know you better."

"I will stay," answered Tyaron. "And you're different, too - and I'd like to get to know you better." He paused a second, then dropped her hands and bowed formally. "Hello, my name is Tyaron - I used to be arrogant all of the time, but now I'm only arrogant some of the time. It's nice to meet you!"

RÃ*an smiled and bowed graciously back. "And my name is RÃ*an - I used to be manipulative and rather dense, and I fall out of trees - I'm afraid I'm still rather slow on the uptake and I still fall out of trees, but at least I'm not manipulative all of the time now." Her smile deepened. "And it's very nice to meet you," she added, looking into his eyes. And then they were in each other's arms, holding each other tight, although if asked, neither one could have said who moved towards the other first.

"You're not dense, RÃ*an," he said softly, stroking her hair. "You may not pick up on mere facts as quickly as some, but you have a heart wisdom and insight that few others have, and that's far more important."

"Well, I'm glad you think so, because that's the way I am, and I'm afraid it's not changing anytime soon!" she said, unconsciously taking "her" braid of his hair in her hand and then pressing in close to him and playing with it, like she used to do so long ago in Gondolin.

Alagos, a smile playing over his fair elven features, decided that it was time for him to take a walk.

[Gordis]

The game is dead.

Here is the memorial

The game poster
http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...is/poster2.jpg

The poster legends
http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...s/Postleg2.jpg