Chapter Fifty-One: Faith, Hope and Trick
The sight of the Judge caused Buffy's stomach to become queasy. She knew all too well that no weapon forged could kill that blue demon. Rocket launchers didn't exist in Middle-earth and it would be thousands of years before they even came into being. What the hell were they going to do? How could any of her people prove their heroism by fighting that beast? He was, in all respects, undefeatable. She wondered if he was strong enough to kill without touching his prey.
Only moments later, she received her answer. The men operating the battering ram suddenly spontaneously combusted; bright blue flames consumed their flesh. Their howls of pain frightened those that stood nearby. In less than a minute, all those that had been set ablaze turned to ash.
"Shit!" shouted the Slayer as she rose to her feet. Even Sauron leapt from his seat when he witnessed the two dozen men fall.
"How do we stop him?" asked the evil Maia uneasily. His eyes remained fixed on the blue demon standing on the battlement.
"I don't know," answered Buffy. "We don't have the kind of weapons that we need to take him down."
"Aren't you the one responsible for bringing him into being, Inanna? The Judge was your creation, was he not?" queried the Necromancer agitatedly. "Surely, you must know of some means of destroying that creature!"
"I need to think," she snapped back. "Gimme a minute." With a roll of his eyes, Sauron mumbled some derogatory comment about her under his breath. Buffy focused more on remembering the attributes that she had bestowed upon the Judge. What powers did she give him and what weaknesses did he have, if any? "Okay," she said aloud. "His skin is like armor, and he burns the righteous down." The Slayer started pacing before her throne, nervously twirling a strand of her shoulder length hair with her finger. "Think, Bella, think… His eyes!" she exclaimed as she turned to the south. "His power emanates from his eyes. Wherever he fixes his gaze, the righteous will burn."
"Well, then do something! Our people are dying," cried out Luthor.
"Frying is more like it," piped up Sauron.
Mortals, Elves, Dwarves, and some of her own demon offspring started to fall in great numbers. Numbers that they couldn't afford to lose.
"I don't know what to do!" shrieked the panic-stricken Slayer. The men along the front lines were fleeing the northern fence of Bâb-edh-Dhrâ by the droves, some engulfed in flames. The Judge laughed wickedly as the arrows from the bows of the elves bounced off his armor-like flesh. Even more men fell. "Damn it!" she yelled again.
Buffy then felt a tingly sensation pervade her body. A split second later, she noticed that the assembly of people gathered on the hilltop froze mid-motion, everybody, but her. She waved her hand in front of Luthor's face, attempted to poke Sauron in the eyes, yet neither flinched nor moved a single muscle. Turning towards the battlefield, she noticed that all the armies stood as though they had been petrified, the Judge included. It then occurred to the Slayer that she had unknowingly caused time to come to a standstill. This was the opportunity that she had been waiting for. Buffy had to act fast before the spell wore off. Looking around anxiously, she grabbed the axe from the belt of Dvalin. She hoped and prayed that his magical blade could cut through the hide of the blue demon. Immediately, she teleported herself to the battlement on which the Judge stood.
With her heart racing, the Slayer swung the axe with all her might at the back of the demon's neck. The metal head of the weapon smashed to pieces upon impact; the handle splintered in her hand. She cursed as the fragments of the axe fell to the stone floor. The shock from the blow bruised her palms. As she shook her hands feverishly, an angry Buffy kicked the monster in the shins. That didn't help; her foot now throbbed painfully too.
Maybe, she thought, if I gouge out his eyes, his powers will diminish.
The Slayer pulled a dagger charm from her belt; instantly, it turned into a full sized weapon. She whimpered softly as her fingers wrapped tightly around the handle. Her attempts to drive the blade into his eyeballs proved to be ineffective. Her agitation continued to grow. Buffy thought that if the Judge lay flat on his back, she might have more success delivering a more forceful blow. Utilizing her slayer strength, she kicked the towering blue figure in the chest. He fell onto his back. The Slayer straddled the beast before attempting to plunge the blade into one of his cold black eyes; the weapon of Morgoth failed to penetrate that organ.
As Buffy sat there, contemplating her next move, a fiery, prickling sensation shot through her body - the Judge was starting to come to. She jumped off the creature and looked around in hope that someone would turn up and help her defeat that demonic foe. She trembled at the thought of him awakening. Surely, his magicks would devour her if she didn't do something quick.
An idea then dawned on her. She placed her dagger back on her belt before laying her hands on the Judge; they both vanished. They reappeared only a moment later on the deserted plateau at the edge of the cedar forest some twelve miles north from where they had been. Decaying bodies still littered the region; carrion fowl and maggots eagerly consumed the rotting flesh.
Immediately, the Slayer ran for cover; she chose to hide on the slope of the ravine to her east. She was only a hundred yards from the spot where she and the Judge had materialized. She watched as he slowly got to his feet, a look of utter bewilderment on his face.
"Where am I?" wondered the blue demon as he looked at the unfamiliar surroundings.
Buffy peeked over the top of the ridge. Her heart was pounding so hard, she was sure that the Judge could hear it. She shifted her position causing several rocks to roll down the wall of the cliff. She picked up one of the loose stones and chucked it as hard as she could in the direction of the cedar trees. The Slayer desperately wanted to alert the beast that dwelt within the wood to their arrival.
"You cannot hide from me," bellowed the Judge. "I can feel you." Buffy ducked down; she didn't know what else to do. "You reek of righteousness. Come forth, mother of Illyria. Nothing would give me greater pleasure than seeing you burn."
The Slayer decided that there was no point in hiding any longer. The Judge's powers could strike her down whether she was hunched along the side of the cliff or standing before him. She crawled to the top of the ridge and rose to her feet. "Here I am, Papa Smurf."
The blue demon gave her a puzzled look. "Papa Smurf?" He obviously had no idea that she was referring to a cartoon character that wouldn't hit the airwaves for three more ages. "You are very bold for one so small. You choose to confront me with no weapon or armor. You are indeed foolish." He smiled and shook his head. "There is no hope for you, Ishtar," he said deridingly.
"That remains to be seen. I haven't lost faith."
"Faith?" laughed the Judge. "What does faith have to do with anything?" Suddenly, a loud roaring noise came from within the wood. The demon turned towards the sound. "What's that?"
Buffy stood in a fighting stance. She pulled a sword dagger from her belt, waiting for the inevitable blast that would shoot from the wood. The Judge focused his attention on the forest, a look of curiosity on his face. A bright beam of blue light then burst forth from the cedars, striking the beast in the chest. The blue monster was blown off his feet. He landed with a heavy thud onto the ground, the gaping hole in his flesh still smoldering.
"Bull's eye!" The Slayer cautiously started to approach the weakened Judge. Her eyes repeatedly shifted from him to the trees. "I mean no harm," she said aloud. She was not speaking to her foe, but to Humbaba, for she knew that she was treading dangerously close to the wood dweller's domain. She could feel its gaze upon her from the depths of the forest. "I have no intentions on entering your woods."
She then heard an eerie voice in her head. 'Take thy prey and begone from my lands!' it said.
"Will do," she answered out loud. "I just need to cut him up first." Buffy warily approached the fallen beast. He was still alive, and in a great deal of pain. "Damn, that's gotta hurt," she remarked when she saw the enormous hole in his torso. She lifted the sword above her head. "Maybe this won't hurt as much… not!" she taunted as she brought her blade down across his neck, severing his head from his body. Mutilating the demon turned out to be easy once he was incapacitated. While the Slayer dismembered the Judge, the lions unexpectedly appeared at her side. "Hey, babies! Your timing's perfect. We need to take these body parts to Hírilost, but they must be kept separated." She pointed her blade at the monster's arms. "Watch out for the bastard's hands. He's not dead and he's got one hell of a grip!" she warned her kitties.
It took two trips for Buffy and the lions to remove the remains of the Judge from the border of the cedar forest to her home in the north. She made sure that the various limbs of the demon were stored securely in different parts of her stronghold.
"You guys need to make iron boxes to house his body parts," she told the dwarves at her fortress. "I cannot stress how important it is to keep the pieces separated; stow the boxes away in different parts of the castle. After the war, I'll have them removed."
This was Buffy's first trip to Hírilost since the war had started. The dwarves that did not participate in the battle were extremely busy tending to the duties that she had assigned to them. Many were burying the bodies of the great men and women who had died in the fight. Others packed away the orbs that contained the spirits of the fallen Maiar into large crates that would later be transported to the Deeper Well.
"Why don't you stay and have supper with us before you depart, my Lady," suggested one of the female dwarves. Buffy then caught a whiff of the delicious smelling food wafting through the corridors of her fortress. Her stomach grumbled at the prospect of ingesting 'real' food.
"Oh God, I haven't had a hot meal in weeks," she replied, her mouth watering. The thought of going back to camp only to eat lembas caused the Slayer to whimper. "But I can't stay. I need to see what's going on in the war zone. Why don't you guys do me a favor and prepare enough goodies for fifty people. As soon as I get a chance I'll come back and take it with me." Buffy liked the idea of providing her generals with a feast. There was no way that she would partake in a tasty hot meal while those at the encampment were left eating the elvish way-bread. Unfortunately, her armies would have to continue getting their sustenance from lembas.
By the time that she returned to the campsite on the hill, the battle was already underway again. Time was moving as it did before.
"Why did you leave without informing someone?"
"Where have you been?"
"What happened to the Judge?"
Buffy was bombarded with questions from the generals as soon as she appeared.
"I took care of the Judge. He's out of commission," she answered to those that gathered around her.
"But I thought that no weapon forged could destroy him," remarked Luthor.
"True," she answered with a slight grin. "All it took was one blast from that Humbaba guy." The men looked at her questioningly. "You know, that creature that haunts the cedar wood west of Bela. He zapped the Judge with that blue laser beam thingy, laid him out flat." Her smile widened. "He's already been dismembered and the dwarves at Hírilost will make the boxes to store his remains in. After the war, I'll have the pieces scattered throughout the world, so we won't have to worry about him again for a few ages."
"I don't understand," started Sauron. "How did you leave without any here noticing? None of us saw you go."
"Apparently, I freaked out so much that I inadvertently stopped time. Everyone and everything came to a standstill. So, I took advantage of that and eliminated the threat."
"Well done, Bella," said Luthor proudly, giving her a pat on the back. "Well done, indeed!"
Buffy turned her gaze to the south. "What's happening on the frontline? Has Illyria unleashed the next nasty yet?"
From her position, she observed her men vehemently attacking Illyria's stronghold. While the battering ram assaulted the northern gates, many of Morgoth's minions started digging beneath the wall of the city. Their goal was to enter the city any way that they could. They believed that by excavating the earth beneath the wall, it would either bring it down or allow them to pass through. Her firstborn had stationed many men along the top of the bulwark in a desperate bid to subdue her parents' forces. It would not be long before the King of the East unleashed the next 'Big Bad' on her enemies.
The Slayer was pleased by what she saw. So much so, that she decided that she would return to Hírilost at once in order to retrieve the feast for her generals. She took a brokenhearted Dvalin with her. He was still upset over the loss of his magical axe, the one that he had used to slay many Balrogs in battle. Buffy promised to make amends for the destruction of that mystical weapon whenever the war ended.
The dwarves at her fortress had everything prepared by the time they arrived. The Slayer and the Dwarf Lord carried back a large cauldron of stew, dozens of loaves of bread, butter and jam. The Noegyth Nibin even furnished enough wooden bowls and utensils for all her generals. Her officers were both delighted and surprised by the feast that Buffy had brought back. Once they retreated into her pavilion, they enjoyed the delicious hot meal provided by the petty dwarves.
After much effort, the battering ram had nearly broken through the iron gates of Bâb-edh-Dhrâ. Illyria's frustration had reached the point where she was ready to end the war once and for all; on the other side of the doorway stood a demon that would see to that. That beast would see to it that the goodly races of Middle-earth suffered terrible torments in Hell, for he had the ability to open its gates.
Olofin impatiently waited for the barrier to come down. He was the sole general on the battlefield other than those from Angband. Buffy's youngest son refused to sit out the battle. His mother may have trusted the forces of Morgoth but he most certainly did not. The half-elf was confounded by her relationship with Sauron and the other Maiar that came from the Iron Mountains. The sudden arrival of the demonic armies weeks ago caused him great anguish, although he didn't show it. It sometimes seemed to him that his mother did not take into account that he was a Noldo from the House of Finwë. As with all the Noldor, he possessed a deep hatred for Melkor and his followers. It only made matters worse that he was forced to fight alongside those under the tutelage of the one that slew his great-grandsire in Valinor. Olofin knew that his father and uncles would be livid if they learned about the alliance between Morgoth and Buffy.
Yet Olofin could empathize with his mother. Her armies were being slaughtered hand over fist and no other forces could she muster other than Morgoth's. Great despair led her to the gates of Angband; he had no doubt about that. However, it still troubled him that she sat now with the other mighty generals on the mount six miles north, when she should be fighting alongside those who willingly put their lives on the line for her. She is the Slayer after all, the most powerful weapon of Eru Ilúvatar. The half-elf had the insight to see that his mother had reached the crossroads, and it appeared that the whisperings of Sauron would influence which path she'd choose.
Despite the flaws of both his parents, Olofin would remain steadfast and true to the mission of eradicating evil from the face of Arda. He had accomplished many incredible feats of bravery during this war and he wasn't about to stop now. His half-sister was the epitome of evil, and it was time for her reign to come to an end. Nothing would give him greater satisfaction than bringing her down himself, but he knew in his heart that her powers outstripped his threefold.
As the gates finally came crashing down, Olofin tightened his grasp on the hilt of the blade wrought by Marto during the days of his youth. Beyond the debris of the mangled doors, he saw an erect solitary figure, monstrous in appearance. It resembled a statue, its eyes open and devoid of emotion. Its naked shoulders were broad and muscular as were its arms, which remained at its side. The hideous figure had long pointed ears and two short horns that protruded from the top of its head. Its partially opened mouth revealed gnarled teeth; some seemed to be missing or broken. The half-elf didn't know which. Olofin easily recognized the creature from his mother's description: Acathla, the demon that possessed the ability to swallow the world.
After Buffy had eaten to her heart's content, she withdrew to her bedchamber. She refused to allow Sauron to accompany her in spite of his protests. She wanted to be alone, for once. As soon as she was free from the Necromancer, she walked over to one of her chests and pulled out some parchment, a quill, and a bottle of ink. She wanted to write a long overdue letter to her beloved Maglor. Ever since the war had started, she had made no attempt to communicate with her husband whatsoever. Perhaps it was her visit to Hírilost that triggered the need to correspond with him.
The Slayer was careful in how she worded the letter to her husband. There was no way that she was about to mention Morgoth or the aid that she had received from him. That would never go over well at home. Instead, she attributed her good fortune to the arrival of the Valkyries. She had explained that they were pulled out of the battle during the early stages in order to retrieve the slain mortals from the battlefield. Since they had finally gained the upper hand, men were not dying in great numbers, and the women were able to return to the battle.
As she re-read what she had written, Buffy became consumed by guilt. The letter was littered with lies. She wasn't sure whether she should send it or not. While she contemplated what to do, she heard a voice calling her name beyond the draped doorway.
"Come in," she answered. Úrion then entered the room, concealing something behind his back. "Hey," she said with a forced smile.
"What's wrong?" asked the dark-haired elf. He took a seat on the other side of the table.
"Is it that obvious?"
"Indeed." His eyes glanced at the glistening ink on the parchment. "I suppose it has something to do with that," he added as he pointed to the letter.
"Yeah," she answered sadly. "Can you believe that I've never written Káno in all this time? Not once. I'm a horrible wife." Buffy's tone was quite gloomy.
Úrion let out a hearty laugh. "My dear Bella, you've been devoting nearly every waking hour to warfare. Surely, Maglor understands that you cannot put aside the sword for the quill."
His words brought her no comfort. "That's not entirely true, Úrion, and you know it. I haven't picked up a blade in a while. I've been sitting on my ass watching others do my bidding."
"Bullshit!" exclaimed the elf as he leaned back in his chair. "Was it not you that took care of the Judge? And did you not use a blade to dismember that beast? You have defeated a great and powerful foe, my dear." He smiled. "And I deem that calls for a celebration of sorts." He pulled out the bottle of wine that he had kept hidden from the Slayer. "I think the time has come for us to indulge a bit."
Buffy picked up the bottle of wine made by the Green-elves. "Ooh, that was a good year," she said as she examined the label. "I think you're right. We've earned the right to celebrate a little."
"I couldn't have said it any better myself," replied the elf as he popped the cork. "Shall we swig from the bottle or do you have some goblets lying around somewhere?"
"Oh, give me a second. They're in the next room." The Slayer rose from her seat and headed for the doorway.
"For the love of Eru, don't bring Sauron back with you. That bastard doesn't give us a moment's peace," he said over his shoulder.
"Tell me about it," she replied dryly with a roll of her eyes. "At least you don't have him lingering around in your bedchamber when you're trying to sleep." She shook her head as she left the chamber. Only moments later she returned carrying two silver goblets. "I'm back and I'm Sauron-free."
"Praise Ilúvatar!" he said with a laugh. Buffy rolled up the parchment and placed it back in the chest as Úrion filled their cups with the amber liquid. She then sat back in the chair that she had vacated only minutes before. "Here you go, my dear," said the dark-haired elf as he handed her a drink. He raised his goblet. "Let us drink to your victory over the Judge."
"To me," said Buffy. She clinked her goblet against his before taking a long drink. "Damn, that's good stuff."
"Like you said, it was an exceptional year." Úrion placed his drink on the table and looked thoughtfully at the Slayer. "Can I ask you a question… a personal question?" asked the dark-haired elf.
"Since when do you ask permission? You can ask me anything," replied the Slayer before taking another drink.
"How did you get Morgoth to relinquish his armies to you?" he asked in a serious voice.
Buffy refilled her goblet before answering. She smacked her lips together after taking another drink.
"Well, I guess you could say that I used my powers of persuasion." The Slayer began to feel woozy.
"Hmm, I must say that I wasn't expecting to see Melkor's forces here." Úrion shifted his gaze towards the doorway. "Nevertheless, I can't let that stop me. Things have already been set in motion," he added softly to himself.
Buffy's head started spinning. "I don't feel good, Úrion," she said as she got unsteadily to her feet. She grasped the edge of the table in an attempt to keep her balance. "I think the wine's off or something."
The elf picked up his goblet and sniffed the contents. "I wouldn't know. I haven't tasted it." The Slayer's eyes rolled back in her head and she started to collapse. Her head struck the corner of the table, slicing her forehead open, before she fell limply to the floor. "Tsk, tsk, tsk," sounded Úrion as he looked at Buffy's motionless body. Already a pool of blood was forming on the carpeted floor. "You are one stupid woman, Bella. The time has come for my Lord to exact his revenge on you, my dear. I've got some fun things in store for you… bitch."
