I haven't actually read Lord of The Rings, so if I mess something up please tell me, and tell me what you think! :)
Jubal stood very still, not wavering his aim on the ghoulish apparition for one second. He couldn't kill the ghost: he knew that. He couldn't even make it leave. What was he supposed to do? He wasn't exactly sure what the ghost meant by 'King of the Dead,' did that mean that it had never been alive?
"What do you want?" He asked finally.
Morthec Gruan smiled his ghastly smile. "I want you to help me."
"What help can I give to a dead king?"
Morthec took a step, and glided slowly through the air closer to Jubal. "I'm looking for a cave, one that you have been to, I believe."
"Jubal, what is he talking about?" Itchikomi stood up. "Go and leave us be," she told the ghost, "We do not want you here."
"I will leave," the ghost assured her, "But," he looked at Jubal, "he must come with me."
"Why are you looking for the cave?" Jubal asked, "Did you know the dead people who lie there once? How did you know I went there?"
"I don't have time to tell you everything right now," Morthec snarled, "I will explain it as we go, but what I will say is that cave is a portal to my world. And I am looking for a key."
"Your world?" Jubal asked, "The world of the dead?"
"No, I am not dead."
Jubal took a slight step back and looked the ghost up and down again, "Well if you aren't dead, what are you?"
"I am undead. I did not aid King Isildur as I had sworn, and so he cursed me never to rest."
"That must have been a pretty powerful curse."
"Help me find the cave," Morthec insisted, "I have to find the key."
"I don't think there is a key in that cave, sorry. Go back to…'your world'."
"King Tarannon Falastur took the key with him when he left Middle Earth in his old age. He is there, the key must be there with him."
"Who? What country was he king of? Where is Middle Earth?"
"Never mind that. Let me make this choice easier, come with me, or I will kill you."
Komi grasped Jubal's arm, trembling, "Jubal, do not die. But you must go, we don't have a choice."
Jubal didn't like it, but she was right, what could he possibly do against an undead ghost? Nothing; there was absolutely nothing he could do. "Alright," he agreed quietly, but he didn't like it. "It is very far from where we are now, though."
"I don't care how far it is, I have to find it."
As Jubal was saddling Paisano, the ghost king stood by watching him in confusion, "What are you doing?" Morthec asked.
"Saddling my ride, what does it look like?" Jubal's irritation showed through his voice. He did not want to be traveling with an undead dead guy, especially because Komi would be alone in the fort with their son Ivon; until Keokatah returned with the other men from their hunting trip, which might take weeks.
"What is it?" The ghost asked, "I don't think we have those in middle earth."
"It's a buffalo," Jubal replied as he climbed into the saddle.
The stars were still out when Jubal and Morthec left the fort.
Hiking through the mountains with a ghost was the strangest thing Jubal had ever done, and he definitely didn't enjoy it. He wished he were back at his fort and that Morthec Gruan had never shown up.
He had often wondered who the 'them' was that the dead man had told him to find, but he wasn't so interested in finding out that he would go on a journey back to the cave with an dead guy. And what was the key for that Morthec wanted so much?
"Since we have plenty of time to talk, headed back toward Shooting Creek like we are, tell me what exactly is going on," Jubal said. He still couldn't shake the feeling that this wasn't really happening. It was impossible, and this must be just a dream.
"It would be pointless for me to explain, because I am from another world and you wouldn't understand anything I could tell you."
"Well, I can try to. How did you get here, if you're 'from another world'?"
"Through a portal in a cave to the south of here. It took me quite a few days to get here, and I assume it will take even more days to get to the cave.
"Fine. You want to know? I will tell you. Tarannon Falastur banished his wife, Berútheil, because she spied on everyone. So he sent her away. For the longest time, we all thought that he'd died peaceable, childless. But I have been trying to figure out what happened to a certain key that Isildur had. Either Tarannon Falastur gave it to Eӓrnil I or he kept it.
"I found a letter that he'd been sent from his wife saying he had a child because she'd been pregnant when she went into exile. He was near death when he got the letter so he told everyone to say he'd died and then he left to go find his child that he hadn't known he had.
"He never was seen again. It wasn't until more recently that I found the portal cave that led to your world, he left a message carved into a slab of wood inside the cave that said he was going after his wife and child who had disappeared."
Morthec stopped talking and didn't say anything else.
"That's it?" Jubal asked.
"What did you expect? That I would have a huge long story to tell you? I shortened it. I don't like talking with humans; it just makes me want to be alive again."
"How did you know about the cave where the bodies were?" Jubal asked.
"Since i am dead, well sort of, I can hear the whispers of the dead in the cave calling for revenge, but I can't locate exactly where they are, so I need your help, you see? All I could tell was that they were to the north of me and that they kept saying, 'Jubal Sackett has seen us'."
Jubal glanced at him, slightly disturbed, Morthec could hear the dead calling for help? "Alright…that's…creepy."
"Not really, I got used to it. If only I'd helped that stupid king Isildur! I could be long dead and happy! Men think the elves are lucky, living forever! How ridiculous that seems now! I used to wish I could have eternal life, and here I am not able to die, it is not the same thing!"
"Elves? Living forever? Maybe you just got crazy in your old age?"
"You don't have Elves? What kind of a weird world is this?" Morthec asked in disgust.
"Well, you don't have buffalo," Jubal countered.
"How many weeks do you think it will take us to reach the cave? I'm sick of this already," Morthec asked.
"A lot. But, we might not have to go that far, I feel like whatever it was they told me to find is close by, up in the mountains, that's where we are headed."
Morthec stopped suddenly, "I sense a presence in the wind."
Jubal raised an eyebrow, "What now?"
"There is a large group of persons headed this way from the east; they're riding horses I believe. Maybe fifteen people?"
"You sense them?" Jubal looked toward the east; he saw nothing except the mountains. The very mountains he wished to explore, "Well, we were just about to turn toward those mountains. I'm not going to change my mind now, if we meet a large group of riders, then I suppose I'll deal with that when I get to them."
They headed into the eastern mountains without another word, Jubal was sure this was the way they were supposed to go, even though they weren't headed toward the cave, he'd been there and there was nothing else to see. If there had once been treasure in the cave where they lay, it was long gone, as was the key Morthec Gruan was interested in.
As they reached the top of a small rise, they saw the group of riders. As Jubal had expected, they were Spanish. They were headed toward Jubal, but they stopped when they saw him, sitting on a buffalo on the top of the hill.
Jubal glanced beside him where Morthec had been, but the ghost was gone. He'd probably disappeared so he wouldn't scare the riders too badly.
Cautiously Jubal started Paisano down the rise, were the men friendly? He had no idea of knowing, so he expected the worst.
"Morning!" He called to them in English, he could speak Spanish if he wished to, but he'd rather not, "Do you speak English?"
"Yes," one of the men said, riding their horse forward, "We are seeking a man called Lee Gomez, I am his brother. He came this way with his men but they have not returned." He looked me up and down and then said, "You ride a Buffalo?"
Jubal sat still for a moment, this was Gomez's brother? Then he could expect a fight. He then realized that the rest of the men had also moved closer and was now in an arch in front of him, spread out as it they expected a fight as well, but they were still a ways back as if they figured their leader could take care of Jubal if he needed to.
"Yes," Jubal said, "I didn't have a horse."
"Strange. Have you heard of Lee Gomez?"
"I only knew his last name," Jubal admitted, "But when I get back to my fort I will add his first name to his grave stone."
Silence followed.
"He is dead then?" Gomez asked,
"Yes," Jubal replied, "You don't tend to bury an alive man."
"Who killed him? I must avenge him, he was my only brother and although he was a stubborn fool sometimes, he was my only family. Whoever killed him will regret it! I ask again, who killed him?"
Jubal looked Gomez in the eyes and calmly said, "I did."