"Come on hurry it up we wouldn't want to annoy the Master would we," shouted Trorgon
As the poor slaves treaded up the ever-steeping slopes of Harrigle, Trorgon loped up and down the ranks lashing any slave within the reach of his cruel leather whip. Then one slave fell over, at any opportunity to stop they refrained from walking over him.
"What's this, another miserable wretch gone down, the taste of my whip will get him on his feet," Trorgon mumbled, then repeated to the others trying to sit down, connected at the wrists and ankles by long chains. Lashing out at the poor, defenceless creature he shouted out orders
"Come on you lazy wretches, on your feet we're moving on once this little runt gets up," with a few more lashes the creature rose to her feet. With a fire of anger in her eyes she set on the mountain troll with surprising speed, agility and strength. Roused by this show of retaliation the others set on him too. On hearing the commotion up ahead several more mountain trolls came lumbering up to check what was going on. The sight they saw was one they never expected to see in their long, long lives. Several slaves were attacking a mountain troll! They set to work splitting the slaves up and after a few nasty trollish words they set off again never taking their eye off of the little, female hobbit.
"Take it easy love you don't want to get a bad name now or you'll never live it down, they'll be on your back day and night blaming you for everything," said a friendly voice behind her, "Hirano's the name, hey, keep it down they're coming up..."
"Oi you quiet down, we're getting close."
The slaves could tell that the trolls were getting tenser at every step. They even stopped talking and dealt with any talking or moving out of line swiftly and as quietly as possible. Soon the air started to thicken and the slaves couldn't move out of line even if they tried. That was all except one, the young hobbit. She looked around and saw that everyone was walking along in silence, not even stepping out of the long, trailing line of captives. The trolls didn't even seem to care about the slaves; they were just walking along facing the ground. She tried to step out of line and had no problem, no one noticed and no one cared. She shouted at the trolls but they couldn't hear her. If she wasn't chained to the others she would have escaped, but there was no chance to tackle the bothersome chains. Enjoying the freedom while she could she tried to take in the surroundings and plan a way out. This idea was soon thwarted when they passed through some thick steel doors guarded by thousands of guards. Also further on there were gates, even more guards and guardhouses full of unknown eyes. There were many rumours about the occupants of the guardhouses. Some thought that there were monsters awoken by the strong powers of The Dark Lord. This was the most wide spread idea though others thought that they were fake and just there to set fear into the hearts of prisoners. As they moved on into the second courtyard and past the third set of doors and guards everyone began to wake up. The older serfs had experienced the feeling before and almost didn't notice the change. To them it was just the norm, but had never heard of anyone who did not succumb to the powerful 'spell' set over the pass. Many of the young captives were finding out all they could about the enchantment of the road. Some of the elders could remember when the spell was put on. They could converse openly now, as the trolls seemed to take longer to recover. Although they could not escape the trolls being out of action eased the tension, as the whip was no longer lashing down on their backs. The pace slackened but after a few minutes the whip came back to life. They reached the slave houses relatively quickly compared to the long toil of the past fortnight (Shire time). Inside these bleak, dreary buildings were the sleeping quarters and eating hall. The sleeping arrangement was thirty to a single drot (see the section under sleeping quarters). Also they got fed twice a day, as they were direct workers for The Dark Lord himself. To say 'himself' is a guess as no one knew what gender he was (if he had a gender at all). As they were shut up for the night, of which there was only five hours of sleep given; people started to ask questions,
"How did you avoid the spell, if we can all do it then we can escape..."
"Yeah, no one's ever survived it, it's so powerful, how do you do it..."
The questions rolled on, none of which she could answer. Soon however the relentless beating of questions stopped as many of the guards could be heard coming up the maze of corridors. There are tales of slaves getting lost in these corridors and being avoided by the cruel trolls. A large, daunting boom resounded from the door. Upon the opening of the door they could see the abnormally large trolls glaring in at them wickedly.
"Is it time for work already, oh good, doesn't time go fast when you're enjoying yourself don't you think?" said a chirpy voice from the back of the drot. Everyone turned round to see who had made this remark. At the back of the drot sat a small hobbit smiling cheekily up at the trolls. To everyone's surprise the trolls started laughing,
"Heh heh, you won't be saying that once we get you started, we've heard about you and we're on to you, Bolto."
"Yeah and by the way where's the young girly, the new un' "
"That's me, what do you want?"
"Just come with us."
They dragged her out of the drot and took her down the corridors and out of the building. They took her across the courtyard and through some unfamiliar ground. Slightly battered having been half-walked half-dragged across the rugged ground she was in no shape to retaliate as she was thrown into a large torture chamber.
"Not so high-spirited now are you."
"Who's there?" she whispered, being too weak to talk properly,
"You don't need to know that now but I want to ask you some questions."
"About what?" she said, trying to sound innocent and unsuspecting.
"You know what I am talking about, and it would do you good to stop the pretence and answer me."
"Or what? You'll have to come close to me to attack me and if you do I'll rip you apart with my own two hands."
"Really and what makes you think I have to come anywhere near you."
There was a moments silence, unsettling her slightly, then it hit her, a searing pain ripped through her skull, seeming to tear her apart from within.
"And have you considered my size?" he continued, almost ignoring the screams of pain coming from the hobbit, "How do you know that I'm not 3 even 5 times your size?"
Suddenly an image of a monster towering over her flashed through her head, she was aware of being afraid for one of the first times in her life. She had never been scared or afraid before, and that often got her in trouble, her latest escapade, getting her in the trouble that she was in now.
"Not so plucky and courageous now are you," he said.
"Who are you?" she said weakly.
"As I said that is unimportant to you now, but later you shall 'see' who I am."
For the first time she looked around the room, and she noticed that her space was the only in the light. She tried venturing towards the darkness where the voice was coming from.
"I wouldn't waste your breath looking for me," he said laughing, "I'm not here!" and the voice changed direction.
"I wasn't, it's just that the light was hurting my eyes."
"Oh really, then you'll be pleasantly surprised that, in fact you cannot reach the dark!"
And true to his word she couldn't, the light followed her, as soon as she left one bit, the light faded away. It was like a spotlight except very, very bright. It felt like it was 100o and the heat soon started to weaken her already weak body. She felt too tired to move and gave up and just lay down, exhausted.
"And don't bother trying to lie to me because I know more than you could possibly imagine, I know that you wanted to find me and you still do, its going to be a thorn in your brain, driving you mad." He changed the subject immediately "Think of all the things that you know exist...which one could I be? Or am I a new species which you have never seen before," he taunted, "what could I look like, how big, how wide, what colour? How do you know I'm not bluffing, I could be a mouse," an image of a small, defenceless mouse appeared in her head. She tried to shake it but she couldn't.
"It makes people like you realise how little you know not to realise who I am just by my actions, my voice and my abilities. Now! This conversation is finished!"
She woke up in the slave room with a sweaty forehead and a panting breath.
As the poor slaves treaded up the ever-steeping slopes of Harrigle, Trorgon loped up and down the ranks lashing any slave within the reach of his cruel leather whip. Then one slave fell over, at any opportunity to stop they refrained from walking over him.
"What's this, another miserable wretch gone down, the taste of my whip will get him on his feet," Trorgon mumbled, then repeated to the others trying to sit down, connected at the wrists and ankles by long chains. Lashing out at the poor, defenceless creature he shouted out orders
"Come on you lazy wretches, on your feet we're moving on once this little runt gets up," with a few more lashes the creature rose to her feet. With a fire of anger in her eyes she set on the mountain troll with surprising speed, agility and strength. Roused by this show of retaliation the others set on him too. On hearing the commotion up ahead several more mountain trolls came lumbering up to check what was going on. The sight they saw was one they never expected to see in their long, long lives. Several slaves were attacking a mountain troll! They set to work splitting the slaves up and after a few nasty trollish words they set off again never taking their eye off of the little, female hobbit.
"Take it easy love you don't want to get a bad name now or you'll never live it down, they'll be on your back day and night blaming you for everything," said a friendly voice behind her, "Hirano's the name, hey, keep it down they're coming up..."
"Oi you quiet down, we're getting close."
The slaves could tell that the trolls were getting tenser at every step. They even stopped talking and dealt with any talking or moving out of line swiftly and as quietly as possible. Soon the air started to thicken and the slaves couldn't move out of line even if they tried. That was all except one, the young hobbit. She looked around and saw that everyone was walking along in silence, not even stepping out of the long, trailing line of captives. The trolls didn't even seem to care about the slaves; they were just walking along facing the ground. She tried to step out of line and had no problem, no one noticed and no one cared. She shouted at the trolls but they couldn't hear her. If she wasn't chained to the others she would have escaped, but there was no chance to tackle the bothersome chains. Enjoying the freedom while she could she tried to take in the surroundings and plan a way out. This idea was soon thwarted when they passed through some thick steel doors guarded by thousands of guards. Also further on there were gates, even more guards and guardhouses full of unknown eyes. There were many rumours about the occupants of the guardhouses. Some thought that there were monsters awoken by the strong powers of The Dark Lord. This was the most wide spread idea though others thought that they were fake and just there to set fear into the hearts of prisoners. As they moved on into the second courtyard and past the third set of doors and guards everyone began to wake up. The older serfs had experienced the feeling before and almost didn't notice the change. To them it was just the norm, but had never heard of anyone who did not succumb to the powerful 'spell' set over the pass. Many of the young captives were finding out all they could about the enchantment of the road. Some of the elders could remember when the spell was put on. They could converse openly now, as the trolls seemed to take longer to recover. Although they could not escape the trolls being out of action eased the tension, as the whip was no longer lashing down on their backs. The pace slackened but after a few minutes the whip came back to life. They reached the slave houses relatively quickly compared to the long toil of the past fortnight (Shire time). Inside these bleak, dreary buildings were the sleeping quarters and eating hall. The sleeping arrangement was thirty to a single drot (see the section under sleeping quarters). Also they got fed twice a day, as they were direct workers for The Dark Lord himself. To say 'himself' is a guess as no one knew what gender he was (if he had a gender at all). As they were shut up for the night, of which there was only five hours of sleep given; people started to ask questions,
"How did you avoid the spell, if we can all do it then we can escape..."
"Yeah, no one's ever survived it, it's so powerful, how do you do it..."
The questions rolled on, none of which she could answer. Soon however the relentless beating of questions stopped as many of the guards could be heard coming up the maze of corridors. There are tales of slaves getting lost in these corridors and being avoided by the cruel trolls. A large, daunting boom resounded from the door. Upon the opening of the door they could see the abnormally large trolls glaring in at them wickedly.
"Is it time for work already, oh good, doesn't time go fast when you're enjoying yourself don't you think?" said a chirpy voice from the back of the drot. Everyone turned round to see who had made this remark. At the back of the drot sat a small hobbit smiling cheekily up at the trolls. To everyone's surprise the trolls started laughing,
"Heh heh, you won't be saying that once we get you started, we've heard about you and we're on to you, Bolto."
"Yeah and by the way where's the young girly, the new un' "
"That's me, what do you want?"
"Just come with us."
They dragged her out of the drot and took her down the corridors and out of the building. They took her across the courtyard and through some unfamiliar ground. Slightly battered having been half-walked half-dragged across the rugged ground she was in no shape to retaliate as she was thrown into a large torture chamber.
"Not so high-spirited now are you."
"Who's there?" she whispered, being too weak to talk properly,
"You don't need to know that now but I want to ask you some questions."
"About what?" she said, trying to sound innocent and unsuspecting.
"You know what I am talking about, and it would do you good to stop the pretence and answer me."
"Or what? You'll have to come close to me to attack me and if you do I'll rip you apart with my own two hands."
"Really and what makes you think I have to come anywhere near you."
There was a moments silence, unsettling her slightly, then it hit her, a searing pain ripped through her skull, seeming to tear her apart from within.
"And have you considered my size?" he continued, almost ignoring the screams of pain coming from the hobbit, "How do you know that I'm not 3 even 5 times your size?"
Suddenly an image of a monster towering over her flashed through her head, she was aware of being afraid for one of the first times in her life. She had never been scared or afraid before, and that often got her in trouble, her latest escapade, getting her in the trouble that she was in now.
"Not so plucky and courageous now are you," he said.
"Who are you?" she said weakly.
"As I said that is unimportant to you now, but later you shall 'see' who I am."
For the first time she looked around the room, and she noticed that her space was the only in the light. She tried venturing towards the darkness where the voice was coming from.
"I wouldn't waste your breath looking for me," he said laughing, "I'm not here!" and the voice changed direction.
"I wasn't, it's just that the light was hurting my eyes."
"Oh really, then you'll be pleasantly surprised that, in fact you cannot reach the dark!"
And true to his word she couldn't, the light followed her, as soon as she left one bit, the light faded away. It was like a spotlight except very, very bright. It felt like it was 100o and the heat soon started to weaken her already weak body. She felt too tired to move and gave up and just lay down, exhausted.
"And don't bother trying to lie to me because I know more than you could possibly imagine, I know that you wanted to find me and you still do, its going to be a thorn in your brain, driving you mad." He changed the subject immediately "Think of all the things that you know exist...which one could I be? Or am I a new species which you have never seen before," he taunted, "what could I look like, how big, how wide, what colour? How do you know I'm not bluffing, I could be a mouse," an image of a small, defenceless mouse appeared in her head. She tried to shake it but she couldn't.
"It makes people like you realise how little you know not to realise who I am just by my actions, my voice and my abilities. Now! This conversation is finished!"
She woke up in the slave room with a sweaty forehead and a panting breath.