After two and a half days of travelling, Gillian and Ramona arrived at the borders of Dol Guldur via Gillian's horse and Ramona's sled. But judging by the weather, you'd never know it was late afternoon. The entire fortress and almost the whole area was completely shrouded in a thick, dense fog that obscured all but the very tops of the crumbling towers. Ramona and Gillian were currently at the edge of the bridge which lead into the fortress, only being able to see the first forty-two feet or so of the bridge. The dead, leafless trees certainly didn't help when it came to the eerie nature of the place.

"Well, here we are." Gillian said "Is this where you came in?"

"Yes." Ramona replied "But now I can barely see anything because of this fog."

"I think this fog might be intentional." Gillian pointed out "A spell of concealment lies upon this place. Which means our enemy is not yet ready to reveal himself."

She then turned to Ramona who in turn looked back at her.

"He hasn't regained his full strength." they said simultaneously.

"Right then." Ramona said as she began to step forward "Let's get this over and done."

"No." Gillian said sternly as she stopped Ramona "I'm going in alone."

"What?!" Ramona barked "But you could get killed!"

"I'm aware of that." Gillian replied "But I don't think this is a place for you."

"But I went in there and came back alright!" Ramona insisted "I can help you! I can fight!"

"I don't doubt that you can defend yourself." Gillian said softly "But you are still young. And there might be more dangers in there than just ghostly figures."

"Oh." Ramona said with disappointment in her voice "I understand."

It was painfully clear to Gillian that Ramona really wanted to help but Gillian knew that she couldn't. But then she remembered that there was a way she could help and keep herself out of danger.

"But…" she said as she put her right hand on Ramona's left shoulder "…there is one thing you can do."

"Alright, how can I help?" Ramona asked, smiling.

"I need you to alert the other members of the White Council." Gillian replied "Tell them where I am and what I'm doing. On no account must you come back."

"Not unless I have the other members?" Ramona inquired.

"That is exactly right." Gillian responded "Now go quickly."

Gillian then walked towards the edge of the bridge as Ramona turned to make her leave and began to set foot on the bridge when Ramona turned back to Gillian.

"Wait, Gillian!" she called out "What if it's a trap?!"

Gillian stopped where she was but didn't turn around and instead sighed.

"It's undoubtedly a trap." she said "Now please do what I asked you to."

Ramona nodded, then turned and made her way back to her sled. Once she was sure she was gone, Gillian sighed one more time in order to relax herself. The atmosphere of the place was making her nervous. She moved her staff to her left hand and muttered something in quenya, the language of wizards. She then drew her Glamdring with her right hand and then ventured towards the abandoned fortress and soon vanished into the fog. Gillian had been in many dark places, places filled with the presence of orcs, ghosts and so on but she hadn't been in a place like this for a long time. As she walked through the fortress, there was an almost deathly silence. Just the sound of the wind blowing through the open air. All the windows were completely gone and the fog flowed through the windows and collected at Gillian's feet all the way up to her knees. She then walked out onto what appeared to be a ledge but the fog was obscuring her vision. But it was nothing a little magic couldn't fix.

"The evil that is hidden here." Gillian said in quenya as her voice echoed across the empty fortress "I command it to come forth. I command it to reveal itself!"

And with that she smacked her staff onto the ground and a bright light flashed from the top of the staff. The fog suddenly dissipated, revealing that she was on a ledge and a courtyard was before her. The fortress was in a worse state than Dale or Ravenhill, with entire sections of wall gone or holes in some. While leaves littered the ground, nothing grew at all, say for some kudzu weeds here or there. Suddenly, Gillian thought she heard the sound of something moving behind her and whizzed her head around to look, only to see the empty, dark hallway behind her. Assuming the fortress was just getting to her, she ignored the noise and resumed her search, reciting the same chant she'd done a few moments earlier.

Unfortunately, her voice was attracting unwanted attention.

Gillian made her way down the stairs into the courtyard. The leaves blew against her shoes like snow as the fog returned and began concealing everything twenty five feet ahead of and behind her. She kept the glowing light emanating from her staff just in case and it helped her see a little better. All of a sudden, there was a creaking sound from the railing above her near the stairs and she turned her head around to see what it was but again saw nothing. She cautiously turned her head back to where she was originally looking but ever since entering this fortress, she'd had the feeling someone was watching her. But she could never see who was watching her. Unbeknownst to her, her theory was correct.

A rather short figure climbed silently onto the railings. His hands were bandaged as were his bare feet. He wore a tattered hood and cape and had a cloth wrapped around his mouth. His eyes were a sickly yellow and he had messy grey hair. As soon as he was sure Gillian wasn't looking, he leapt off the railing and then landed on Gillian's back. She was thrown forward by the impact and briefly dropped her staff and sword. She turned to see the figure pull out a knife from seemingly out of nowhere and swiped it at her but she dodged it quickly. She then grabbed her staff just as the figure lunged at her again but when he caught hold of the staff, Gillian turned around with such speed and momentum that the figure was thrown almost fifteen feet and slammed into a rotting wooden door which broke in half and he vanished into the darkness. She took hold of her sword, sheathed it, then grabbed her staff and made a beeline for the nearest door. She thwacked the door open with her staff and as soon as it flung open she ran inside. It was pitch black but the open door provided extra light. She stopped half-way through the room, panting while she tried to catch her breath. But her heart almost stopped when the door suddenly slammed shut behind her and everything went black except for the circle of light she was in thanks to her staff.

She tried to stay as quiet as possible as the sweat dripped down her face and she grasped her staff tighter than she ever had before. She held out her staff in front of her as she turned around and caught a glimpse of some dirt-covered, bandaged bare feet but in less than half a second they vanished into the darkness with whatever had attacked her growling like an animal. She backed away a few feet only to hear that snarling noise again and she whizzed herself and the staff around and managed to catch a glimpse of the figure's cape as it vanished into the deathly blackness around her. Gillian stepped into the middle of the hallway and tried to catch her breath again, only for something to run past her at lightning speed and brush up against her dress. Gillian then resumed running forward, hoping that she'd find a way out and the light emanating from her staff being her only source of light. But she couldn't run for very long because she was old after all and so she stopped. That snarl suddenly came back and she turned her staff round only for whomever it was to vanish into the dark as soon as the light came into contact with them. She backed away a few more paces but then froze.

There was no more sound.

As brave a wizard as Gillian was, she never felt more afraid then she did during that agonizing minute of silence. No sound of the wind or of dirt between someone's toes or even of her attacker. Just empty, lifeless silence. She felt herself shaking from head to foot and her staff shaking along with her. Her heart felt like it'd explode any second with the hairs on the back of her neck all standing on end. She gulped nervously as she looked around. Nothing but the dirt and stone at her feet.

"Show yourself." she ordered, managing to keep her cool.

As if in response, her attacker suddenly lunged at her, screaming as he did so, and tackled her to the ground but she kicked him off and he smacked onto the dirt, his knife getting lost in the darkness. He snarled in anger and lunged back at her bare-handed but she held up her staff and he grabbed it instead of her. With a surprising amount of agility for her age, she threw the attacker to the ground and pinned him down her staff and her left hand. Before the attacker could do anything else, she smacked her right hand onto his forehead and without hesitation began reciting something in quenya. Her attacker snarled angrily, his hands closing into fists onto the floor. Gillian didn't stop but instead repeated the same spell more fervently. To her relief, the attacker slowly stopped growling as if he himself was exhausted and she sighed as if a big weight had been lifted off her chest as she gently moved her right hand over the person's face but stopped right at the cloth covering his mouth. She ripped the cloth off, threw it to the side and also threw back the person's hood as she saw her attacker's full profile.

He wasn't an orc as she'd suspected but rather a dwarf with a messy, unkempt beard that had bits of leaves and dirt in it. He opened his eyes and the yellow quickly faded away to his natural brown color which was once the color of his hair. It then clicked in Gillian's brain who this was.

"T-Thrain? Son of Thror?" she asked "Is that you?"

"Gillian?" he asked in a gruff voice.

Gillian chuckled in disbelief as she stood up while Thrain sat up and felt the soil in his hands and let it slip through his fingers.

"A lifetime." he said as he looked up to Gillian "I've been here a whole lifetime."

"Everyone thought you were dead." Gillian said in reply "It's a miracle to see you're alright."

Thrain, however, was busy with his thoughts. Little by little, memories of his past life began to return. And he was putting the pieces together. He stayed silent for a good long while as he tried to grasp what was going on.

"I had a son and two daughters." he said hesitantly "Frerin, Dis and…Traude."

"Yes." Gillian replied smiling "And you'll see your daughters again. But come on, we must leave."

She reached out her right hand for Thrain to take, He did so and she lifted him up and they began heading back the way she came. Thrain remained quiet for a good long while until they reached the door. He opened it and dim light poured into part of the room along with a lot of fog. As they walked out into the fog, Gillian looked to Thrain who was still silent.

"Are you alright, my friend?" she asked with worry.

"Y-Yeah." Thrain replied "I'm just trying to piece together what has happened while I was gone."

"Well, what's the last thing you remember?" Gillian inquired.

"Let's see…the orcs had taken Moria. We were at war." Thrain responded "My son had been slain. I charged into battle. My daughter tried to stop me. I was surrounded."

He stopped for a moment as Gillian cleared away some fog as they turned a corner, revealing another staircase ahead of them which led to another crosswalk. Gillian then turned to Thrain who had a look of fear on his face.

"Azog the Defiler was leading them." he said "I tried to fight him. And he threw me to the ground."

"Then what?" Gillian asked.

"I don't know." Thrain replied "That's where the memory stops."

"What about your ring?" Gillian asked in concern "The one on your right hand."

Thrain had completely about that ring of his. It'd been passed down from generations of dwarf kings. He then lifted up his right hand…only to see, much to his and Gillian's horror, that his middle finger was completely cut off.

"They took it." he said in a soft but terrified tone.

Gillian then noticed the bandages on his hands and on his feet. He was in an even sorrier state then she thought.

"What have they done to you?" she demanded.

"I didn't tell them, Gillian." Thrain responded "They tried to make me but I didn't. Have you kept them safe? The map and key?"

"Yes I have." Gillian replied "I gave them to your daughter Traude. Now come on. Let's get out of this death trap. You have two daughters waiting for you."

"I can't go back. I've already lost my father and my son." Thrain said as his voice broke and he turned his head to look at the ground "Look at me!" he went on as he looked up at Gillian "I'm a disgrace. I'd shame my daughters."

"I don't agree at all." Gillian said as she placed her hand on Thrain's shoulder "You're children will be beyond happy to see you again. Traude especially."

"Where is she?" Thrain inquired "Where is Traude? Is she safe?"

"Yes indeed. You'd ought to be proud of her." Gillian replied smiling "She's taken up the quest to reclaim Erebor! The dwarves will have a new queen!"

"NO! You can't let her!" Thrain bellowed in shock as he backed away slightly from Gillian "Traude cannot go to Erebor! No one must enter that mountain!"