Disclaimer: Middle-Earth and its wonderful characters are property of the all mighty J.R.R. Tolkien. Movie references come from the great mind of Peter Jackson. I seek not to steal their vision, only to humbly expand, add a dash of humor, and of course promote the power of friendship and adventure.
Note: This story is a third installment of 'A Fellowship of Three' and 'The Three Powers'. The story can be followed without reading them, but if you wish to laugh and gain a bit of background I highly recommend them. Enjoy!
Three…the number echoes into the minds of all. It is a number imbued with a mysterious, magical energy. One particular friendship is composed of this magic, of this mystery. It would endure the elements, the distance, and even the fabric of the earthly realm…it would lead them to their grandest adventure of all…
Triple the three congregated in the shadows. They had not forgotten the females from the other realm. In fact they bided their time. But as their quest for the ring became increasingly vital, they often wished for a little more excitement.
The Witch-King sat in his adamantine throne. His fingers drummed on its edge as he surveyed his army. The other wraiths gathered beside him, viewing the organized chaos of an army that would conquer Middle-Earth.
Khamûl, the second lieutenant, turned to the Witch-King, "Your mind is elsewhere. . ."
"As is yours," he calmly replied. His voice was hardened steel.
A translucent sphere beside the Riders filled with a red mist and a great eye appeared.
Each of the wraiths bowed. The Witch-King nodded his head and brought the sphere to a large chamber. He placed it in an outstretched claw on an ornate altar. He dropped to a knee and bowed. The others closed the doors and followed the Witch-King's lead.
Sauron's form appeared before them, basked in a fiery haze. "The time draws near for the gateway to the other world to open once more."
The Witch-King's head immediately rose to view his master. "My Lord?"
The other Riders exchanged glances. Of course they couldn't see each other's glances due to their fancy new helmets the orcs made for them. . .but they had grown accustomed to each other.
"Yes, what your mind has been thinking on will be coming to us very soon. We must use them to recover the ring. Once I have my ring Middle-Earth will tremble before my will. Then, I will extend my powers to the other realms. You, my most loyal servants will reap the rewards of your years of service."
The Nazgûl smirked under their helmets.
The Witch-King spoke up, "what do you wish us to do my Lord?"
Sauron gestured to the sword at his side. The Witch-King tilted his head, but drew his sword. "You did well in marking a fellow servant. A connection to the other world has been established."
"The female I cut…" the Witch-King said thoughtfully.
"Yes," Sauron hissed. "With her comes her friends and with her friends comes her."
The Witch-King seemed to shiver in anticipation. "Her friends. . ."
Sauron chuckled and waved his hand forming a pillar of fire at his side. "Place the blade over the flame and you shall see for yourself that the connection still remains."
The Witch-King placed the blade over the flame and the other Riders joined their Dark Lord's laughter. The connection still remained. . .
Kristi woke up in a cold sweat and with the words, "holy hells!" as she tumbled out of her bed grasping her arm. She blinked wondering what the hell woke her up. Glaring at her alarm clock and ignoring her arm she turned off its ringing.
Sarah jolted awake at a soft touch on her cheek. A 'meow' emanated from a furry being, whose whiskers tickled her cheeks.
She gave the cat a look and pet its head. "You just be glad that I like kitties."
Alex gasped and opened her eyes. She blinked for a moment and put a hand to her head.
"What in the nine hells woke me up?" She shook her head and made her way to the kitchen mumbling, "Caffeine. . .coffee. . .need the coffee."
The girls' lives had gone back to normal. Well, as normal as ones such as themselves could consider a life normal. Alex had turned 20 but weeks ago and Kristi and Sarah were months away from approaching their second decade of life. They were on their summer break. A time of fun, a time of get togethers, a time of well. . .all right, no tests, homework, or papers to write. Granted it was still spring, but the wonders of colleges and universities letting out early was nothing to complain about.
Their previous adventures had affected them all in different ways. But in the end, each of them yearned for another adventure. Alex often found herself drifting as she listened to her various cds. She would often stare out at nature and see flashes of Middle-Earth, then blink and sigh softly. There were times late at night when she remembered the archery she learned and that would cause her to laugh quietly. But there were also times when she shivered at the memory of Wormtongue. Kristi would often zone out to another place, as if she was listening to another voice. She had started taking kendo, Japanese sword fighting, and felt as if she was being prepared for something. Increasingly vivid dreams, the image of Sauron, and the scar on her arm were ever present in her mind. Sarah sometimes felt that there were eyes upon her. But she would dismiss that notion and chide herself for even thinking that. At times she found herself faintly smiling at a black horse and her mind would coast back to her time spent in Angmar.
It was a rainy spring day when Alex, Kristi, and Sarah decided to get together. The wind rustled overgrown lawns in unison and birds bathed in puddles. Blooming trees lined the roads and their petals drifted to the ground with the rain. Kristi drove through these petals; absently thinking 'this is such an anime moment'. After that inspirational thought, she passed a senior citizen on the road, who was driving five miles under the speed limit. It was not wise to mess with aggressive driving Kristi.
Sarah watched out her window for Kristi, hoping that she wouldn't hit a pedestrian. She didn't want to clean up the body or have to go to law school to bail her friend out of prison. Seeing her friend pull into the driveway she grabbed her coat and some papers, then went to face the elements.
Kristi was mesmerized by the sounds of raindrops and her windshield wipers when Sarah opened the car door. She grinned, "ahoy there mate!"
Sarah chuckled looking at a small pirate flag above her head. "Ahoy there. Are you Captain Kristi now?"
"It's Super Kristi's alter ego," she replied. "Care to be my first mate?"
"Erm. . ." Sarah said, "no."
"Your loss," Kristi said. She patted a stuffed mouse on her dashboard. "Mr. Mousekin can be my first mate."
Sarah rolled her eyes in amusement inwardly thinking, 'this is going to be one very long and interesting day'.
Alex walked onto her back porch and breathed in the air. She loved the smell of rain. She couldn't help but notice that, as of late, it always seemed to rain when her and her two good friends got together. That fact didn't damper her spirits at all. She rested her elbows on the edge of the porch and stared up at the sky. She absently started humming a Chichiri image song, but turned her head at a slight noise.
Kristi muttered, "Damn, I was going to sneak up on her." She turned to Sarah. "How does she sense my intentions?"
"Well, it is you after all," Sarah pointed out.
Kristi pondered that thought as they climbed the steps. Alex folded her arms and said, "Trying to sneak up on me eh?"
"No. . .of course. . .not," Kristi feigned innocently.
Sarah poked Kristi and whispered, "that whole innocent thing. . .just doesn't work for you."
Alex approached her other side, poking and whispered, "yeah we know you too well."
Kristi muttered incoherently while Alex and Sarah exchanged smirks.
Alex looked to Sarah's hand, which contained papers of some sort. "What's that?"
Sarah brightened. "Oh yes!" She set the papers down on a nearby table. "These are some informational pamphlets and such of the places I'll be going when I spend my semester over seas next year."
"Sweet," Alex said.
The wind rustled the papers and they all fought to prevent them from coming off the table.
"Maybe we should go inside," Alex suggested.
"There's no need," Kristi said walking up the steps again.
Sarah blinked, wondering when she disappeared so quietly.
"How you. . .there. . .when you were over. . .here," Alex paused and considered her owns words, then shook her head.
Kristi held up some wet rocks, dried them on her pants, and then placed them at the corners of the pieces of paper.
"Ah, so that's why you go to college," Sarah said.
"I knew there was some reason," Alex said playfully.
"Damn straight," Kristi said with a grin. She looked at the papers. "You're so lucky Sarah."
"Yeah," Alex said perusing the papers. "You'll definitely have to bring us back souvenirs."
"No problem," Sarah said with a smile.
Kristi's eyes fell on a paper, whose edges were rustling wildly. She smoothed it down and turned to Sarah. "Say Sarah, what's this one?"
Alex tilted her head and looked at the considerably older of the papers.
"Which one?" Sarah picked up the paper and looked at it. "Huh. . .that's odd. . .I don't remember bringing this one. Must have slipped into the pile. Looks kind of old though and there's some writing on it."
Alex and Kristi asked in unison as they gathered around Sarah, "What's it say?" They turned to each other; they had been doing that a lot lately.
"'There is an old place on a dark rock, forgotten behind doors none can unlock; that grim gate no man can pass. In the mind grows the green grass; thinking feeds, imagination soars, and wind blows from the sea-shores. An adventure the Night shall keep, while Middle-Earth waits and the Elves sleep. We must see with our darkened eyes the light that for no darkness dies.'"
They all fell silent and the wind rustled the papers.
Alex broke the silence. "Does it say anything else?"
Sarah absently nodded. "Just some smudged stuff I can't make out."
"It mentioned Elves," Alex said quietly, "and Middle-Earth."
Kristi quietly whispered, "We must see with our darkened eyes the light that for no darkness dies."
A crack of thunder and a flash of lightning caused them all to jump.
"Gah!" Alex turned to Kristi, "don't repeat the creepiest part!"
Sarah scrambled for the paper as the wind picked up, ripping it out of her hands. "Damn it!"
They scrambled off the porch, to the stairs, running after the paper. Kristi blinked tears from her eyes as the wind and rain started whipping around them. "Bloody hell!"
"I just took a shower! I don't need another one!" Alex exclaimed trying to shield her face from the rain.
Sarah shivered, the weather was not normal and everyone knew it. "We have to stick together!"
Kristi yelled, "Operation human shield!" She grabbed both Alex and Sarah's arms.
Time seemed to stop as the wind swirled around them. Raindrops were frozen in place as the girls stood in the seeming eye of a storm. A bright light appeared above them, and then beneath them, it shone through the raindrops creating prisms of color that shined on their faces. The piece of paper that Sarah had read from wafted about their heads, like a leaf performing an intricate dance depicting its inevitable fall to the ground. The words seemed to lift from the page and fly around them. Sarah kept her eyes open, staring at the words and repeating them in her head. The words flared golden and then seemed to burn away. The charred pieces of paper flew around them and the eye filled with light, causing them all to squeeze their eyes shut. Everything was light and then everything was darkness.
Alex felt as if she was floating on a cloud. Golden light danced before her eyes and bird-like creatures fluttered about her head. On closer inspection the birds were flapping pieces of paper that formed in front of her.
She read aloud what she saw, "lusse enyalie. Wanya aman. Tirambar, yaara maranwe. Tirsi ingole ooma ananta kaure i moore, heru si mesta."
Whisper memory. Go free from evil. Heed fate, ancient destiny. Heed this magic voice and yet fear the blackness, master this journey.
She turned her head to see Sarah floating like herself, in a confused half-awake, half-asleep state. Her eyelids felt heavy as she looked for Kristi. She struggled to keep her eyes open when she saw her. "Avathar. . ." she mumbled as she sank into a sleep.
Kristi tried to blink the dots from her eyes that were caused by the light. She saw her two friends floating and figured she must be doing likewise. She tried to move, but the light felt heavy. She exhaled as shadows started wrapping around her and stared at the words emblazoned in them.
"Hu-na illska. Garmog tholl ti motsham dru. Hap jishotasaun hak, varanat zemar. Lat timer nalt. . .pafund. . .bot. . .kilos. . ." she trailed off on the last word and let the shadows take her.
Enter evil. Delve deep beyond ancient fear. Open secret revenge, clouded heart. You fear alone. . .abyss. . .world. . .key. . .
Translations:
Alex's words are composed of Quenya, Kristi's words are Black Speech, and are of course translated underneath in italics. It's translated later, but I figure it shall add suspense and a bit of mystery. Sarah's part was tweaked a bit and originally from page 243 of 'The Tolkien Reader'
(Quenya) Avathar – Shadows
Author's Note: The trilogy is finally completed. I had my friend's waiting the other night for about a good hour, while I madly typed out the dramatic conclusion. Thanks to them for their patience, inspiration, and tolerating me for observing them (okay so essentially I got into their heads). I spent 13 hours on this story and it ended up being 35 pages long in ff.net format, as I like to call it. It's got humor and is a bit darker than the others. Thank you to previous reviewers; to the old and new reviewers you have our gratitude. Places a sphere on an outstretched claw and waves her hand over it. . .the fiery words 'please review' appears
In the next chapter, things are all wet but the Three encounter people that will help them to be dry. (Again updates shall be in 3 days and will be regular winks)