(A.N. Most of these characters are not mine. That is the point of fanfic, but let's not get into that. Some, however, are. Iasyn, Itarilde, Armeyn and Azra all belong to me. You steal them, I keel you.
Only constructive critical reviews should be submitted. If you feel the need to flame my writing, bite your tongue or email me at redhairedshedevil@yahoo.com. I will respond to your comments. You don't want me giving YOU a nasty review in return, which I will do. Please inform me of any discrepancies you find in terms of time, language (Elvish and Orcish) or other technicalities.)
Twelve year old Iasyn ran through the tress of Fangorn Forest at a break neck pace. An entire company of orcs was on her trail, trying to take her to Mordor. She knew if they caught her, she would surely be executed. They had stopped for a rest and she took the opportunity to run away. Unfortunately, they were not as stupid as she had bargained and one had seen her take off. Listening to them tromp after her made her run faster. She ran so fast, her foot caught in a tree root and she lost her balance. It only took a half a second for her to recover, but it was enough time for them to overtake her. They grabbed her with their slimy hands.
"We've got you this time, me lovely. Now we're gonna take you back to Lord Sauron and see what he has to say about ya," a particularly ugly one said, putting his face uncomfortably close to hers. She squirmed and kicked the whole way back out. Suddenly, she felt a sharp pain on the back of her head and everything went black.
The next time she opened her eyes, she found herself on a dirty floor on the bowels of Barad-dur. She pushed herself up and saw a human woman talking to an orc. The woman saw Iasyn move and walked over to her.
"What a pretty little child. What do they call you, sma ash?" she asked.
"Haldiryn," Iasyn gave her surname.
"My name is Azra," she said. "I'm going to take you to see someone now." Azra helped Iasyn up and led her out of the dungeons and into the main throne room. A figure cloaked in black rested on the imposing throne.
"Bow to Lord Sauron, Haldiryn," Azra said. Iasyn's eyes grew to the size of medallions. She was sure he would cut off her head if she even moved. She gave a stiff, horrified bow.
"You escaped from Orthanc?" his raspy, resonating voice shook her to the core.
"Yes," she squeaked.
"Do you know why you were brought here?" he asked. She shook her head.
"I wanted to give you a gift," a skeletal hand reached out from under the robes, holding a ring.
"Take it," Azra nudged her forward. Iasyn held out her hand and he dropped it in. The ring was silver and etched with leaves. She rolled it around in her palm, examining it. The leaves never began and never ended.
"This is Elenya and you are now her keeper," Azra said. "I have one, too." Azra pulled back her sleeve to show her Azra-Nah. With the gift of the twenty first ring of power, Iasyn became the only child ever to possess such a powerful and dangerous object.
"Now go back with Lady Azra, Haldiryn and be a good girl," Sauron said. "Good girls get to live." Iasyn shuddered. She knew she would not leave Mordor without at least one mention of her death. Azra bowed and led Iasyn up to the tower rooms.
"You will stay here. Do not leave unless I come and get you. Understood?"
"Yes my lady," she said.
"Wonderful child," she patted Iasyn's red head and left. Iasyn flopped on the bed and looked at the ring Sauron had given her. She remembered Galadriel's advice when she was a very small child. "Never trust the Dark Lord. He only means to deceive and dominate. If you ever see him, pray to the Valar he will spare you.". This memory was enough to keep Iasyn from putting the ring on. It would tie her to Sauron the way Nenya tied Galadriel to him. No, she refused to put it on.
Iasyn spent nearly two weeks in Barad-dur. Her days were spent in the small tower room either sleeping or looking out the window at the orcs, goblins, and other vile creatures under Sauron's command. She had not seen Sauron himself since the day she was brought to Mordor. The only one she ever saw was Azra. In spite of herself, Iasyn got attached to the witch queen. As her only contact, she didn't have much choice.
She also broke her promise to herself. When Azra first came in to get her the next morning, she saw the ring sitting on the bed table.
"Why don't you have your ring on?" she asked.
"Oh, I took it off when I went to sleep," Iasyn fibbed.
"You should never take it off. This is a very powerful gift, sma ash," she said. She took the ring off the table and handed it to Iasyn. Reluctantly, she slid it on the middle finger of her right hand. Since then, she had taken it off when Azra wasn't looking. She would always put it back on when she heard the witch coming.
On the morning of the first day of the third week, it began. Iasyn was staring out the window at the Black Gates, watching the orcs patrol the top of the imposing structure. She rested her chin on the windowsill and sighed. Then a horn sounded. She looked for the orc who sounded the horn. However, they were all looking over the edge. The horn sounded again.
"Atta," she breathed. She stood up and leaned out the window. Elrond, Haldir, and Arcamenil lead the army of elves into Mordor.
"Amme! Atta!" she yelled. Haldir's elf ears heard his daughter's voice and he looked up to the window she was waving out of. He showed Arcamenil where she was. She waved up to her daughter. They stopped and waited for the orcs to attack. Iasyn watched carefully, but then Azra came in.
"Come on. Lord Sauron wants to see you," she said. She practically dragged the little girl out of the room and down to where Sauron was waiting right outside the main gates of the tower.
"Take her out and show them she's still alive," he said to Azra.
"Yes, my lord," she led Iasyn outside to where the two armies were staring each other down.
"Here's the little one. If you defeat the army of Mordor you can have her back. If you lose, she dies," Azra said. Arcamenil broke ranks and marched over to the woman who held her child.
"And what would happen if I cut off your head first?" she drew her sword and held it to Azra's throat.
"We'll never know," she drew a dagger hidden in her robes and stabbed Arcamenil in the stomach, barely missing Iasyn.
"Amme!" Iasyn shrieked as her mother fell forward into Iasyn's small arms. Even though she was nearly to her full height, Iasyn was still a fairly wispy child. The weight of her mother's body brought Iasyn to her knees. That did it. The elves and orcs had at each other.
"Iasyn," she started.
"No, Amme, don't talk," she said, tears pouring down her cheeks.
"Take care of your father and tell your sister I love her," she said. "You have to take my place now."
"No!" she cried. She felt the life drain out of her mother's body. Azra stood over them, unmoving and looking rather pleased with herself.
"She should have known better than to challenge me," she said. Iasyn wiped her eyes and stood up. She was half a head shorter than Azra, but she was just as determined.
"Vrasubatlat, Azra," she said in Azra's native tongue.
"Nar udautas, sma ash," she replied. Without thinking, Iasyn put the full force of her weight behind her and punched Azra in the face. She knocked her to her back. So raged two battles, one to liberate Iasyn from Mordor, the other between Iasyn and her keeper.
The battles went all day and into the night, finally with the elves pushing the last of the orcs back to the far side of Mordor. Iasyn and Azra were both bruised and bleeding, but still coming up for the occasional attack.
"Iasyn! Tula sinome!" her father called. She looked up. She ran over to him and he swept her up in his arms.
"Atta! I didn't know! I would have stopped her if I knew," she sobbed.
"Ssshhh. It's not your fault. You had no idea," he said. "Let's take you home now."
"I'm sorry," she cried. He just carried her out of the Black Gates, still sobbing. Some of the others picked up Arcamenil's body and carried her behind them. The elves were silent the whole way back to Lothlorien except for Iasyn's occasional sob. 295400
