Ok, chapter 7. I'm not sure if this fic is my best ever, but I really enjoy writing this one more than any of the others. I'd like to thank everyone whose reviewed the fic (a special thanks goes out to TH, Kitty-Chan and Charles 'RocketBoy' Riley) it hasn't exactly reached the heights of such classics like 'Pendent of Eternity' or 'Dude, where's my ring?' But I'm really surprised at how many reviews I've got and I'd like to thank everyone whose left a comment. Thanks.
Of course, I do need help with these things, so any suggestions about what should happen would be appreciated by me a lot. Also, if you want any character (created by you, or even you) in this fic, don't hesitate to ask. I'd be more than glad to put anybody in (I've done it before). Anyway, here it is. R&R please, thanks.
Dedication: To Ayla (merriadoc from hobbiton on ff.net) great friend
Greater Evasion
Part VII, Death's messenger"Mordor was a strange place indeed. Much of it was wasteland, some of it snow-bound mountains, some of it rolling plains, some of it lush forests. However, we had approached from an entirely different side altogether. We had arrived in the blacksand desert, an area on the outskirts of Mordor. And the figure that we encountered in the desert was so subtly terrifying it makes my blood run cold just to think about it."
From the diary of Anomen Redwood, hobbiton press.
The Evaders were back in the lands of Mordor. According to the new recruit Ajantis' map, they had entered an isolated part of it known as the blacksand desert. The desert was mostly unknown and completely uncharted, the map ended where it started, there was just an arrow, pointing upwards, that read 'blacksand desert, don't go here.' Ajantis was a secretive man, but he held back more than usual when asked where he got such a map from.
"No." He said again.
"Go on Ajantis." Anomen Redwood said impatiently, "It's a good map, tell us where you got it."
"Found it." The man replied stiffly.
"A map of Mordor?"
"Found it… found it second-hand… it was preowned…" Ajantis replied vaguely. He pulled the hood of his black cape further over his face.
"Preowned eh?" Anomen said, a wry smile breaking out of your face. "You stole it."
Ajantis started mumbling. Anomen laughed and clapped his friend on the back.
"Well, I don't give a damn about how you got it. It's a useful thing, and I think that our need is greater than the need of its previous owners."
Ajantis mumbled again.
But the map stopped. At the place where they were. This was the blacksand desert, so named for its dark grey sand, possibly originally volcanic rock from the volcano at the centre of Mordor. Dune after Dune of it lay before them. The sun beat down hard. There was no end to the legions of sand.
* * * *
Drondee Templewob hobbled along behind the larger members of the Evaders. It was boiling, his chainmail vest burned into him, as did his magical shortsword. He took a long swig from his water-flask, it felt like new life was flowing into him and the liquid gushed down his throat. He clambered up a sand dune. Almost slipping back down again, a squeak behind him indicated that his brother Bongo had slipped down it. The fallen hobbit got up and crawled up the Dune.
Drondee looked out onto the horizon. Sand. Sand for miles and miles. No trees, no plants, not even any bones, just sand. Drondee felt his vision cloud up, he collapsed and rolled down the dune.
When he came to, he found himself bouncing up and down on the enormous shoulders of Ulli Runecarver. The dwarf had a solemn expression on his face. Drondee tried to wipe his brow. It was drenched in sweat. His hand slid off his forehead and he fell back into unconsciousness.
* * * *
Ulli Runecarver was worried. There seemed no end to the sand that was laid out before them. One of their members was already down. They needed shelter from the blistering heat. Fast. Suddenly Bongo the Hobbit cried out.
"Hey. What's that?"
"What?" Ulli grumbled.
"That! That over there!" He pointed. Ulli looked over, what he saw made him drop Drondee, the hobbit hit the sand with a low 'thunk'. Ulli was so surprised he didn't bother to pick the hobbit up.
It was a city.
From the distance he couldn't see if it was inhabited or not, but there was no point in ignoring it. The Dwarf picked up the hobbit and led the group over to the city.
Half an hour later, they had arrived. There was no doubt about the fact that it was a city. Towers poked over the top of the large city walls. A closed gate stood in front of them, blocking them entry. The Dwarf walked up to it.
"HEY!" He shouted, "IS ANYONE THERE?"
No answer. His voice echoed over the walls and around the empty city.
"IS ANYONE THERE?" Ulli shouted again. Nothing.
"IF NOBODY ANSWERS I'M GOING TO BREAK THIS DAMN THING DOWN!" The Dwarf shouted again. Still nothing.
"LISTEN!" Adolphus Fell, the half-elf, suddenly shouted, "MY FRIEND HERE HAS A VERY LARGE AXE AND A VERY SHORT TEMPER! IF YOU VALUE YOUR NICE DOOR I SUGGEST YOU ANSWER!"
No sound.
"Right, that's it." Ulli boomed, "I'm going in." He stepped forward and rammed his axe into the lock in the centre of the gate. It shattered easily. With a roar of triumph, the dwarf shoved the door open. It swung open easily. But Ulli's look of triumph turned to one of surprise.
Right behind the door a creature stood, patiently waiting for him silently. With a hiss it swished an axe that it was holding down at Ulli. The Dwarf grunted in pain as the blade bit into his shoulder. Drawing his sword, Fell rushed forward. He easily parried the enemy's swipe, and in turn the creature hooked his axe under Fell's sword, blocking his counter-strike, in desperation, Fell put in some follow-through, taking the axe out of the thing's slimy hands, it flew off and buried itself in the now destroyed gate. The monster jumped at Fell, but the half-elf calmly stuck his sword in the thing's neck. Black blood gushing out, the creature gurgled as it died.
All this happened in the space of about ten seconds. Anomen walked up to the dead creature. At a distance, it could've been mistaken for a human. It had two arms, a torso and a head, its top half of its body was decked out in dull armour. However, it was far from human. Its entire body was covered in scales, it had no legs, just a large snake-like lower body, a serpent's face blankly stared out from the helmet it wore. Half-man, half-snake. A deadly opponent. Ulli snarled at the body.
"A mutation." He spat, "The magic of Mordor has done this. I expect that…"
He suddenly stopped as an ear-piercing shriek tore out from the empty streets of the city. The more the Evaders listened, the louder and clearer it became.
"NOOOO! PLEASE, PLEASE! I'M A RICH MAN, I'LL GIVE YOU IT ALL! ALL OF IT! PLEASE! NO!"
In the distance, perhaps a few hundred metres away, a figure suddenly ran out of a far off building. The man stumbled and fell. Another figure slowly walked out of the building. As far as the Evaders could see, the stricken man started backing away from the other person, but he seemed wounded, drained. He stopped. The other man walked over to him, and bent down. Wild screaming filled the air.
"Come on!" Ulli roared, and ran off towards the two people as fast as his stubby legs could carry him. He pulled his double-edged battleaxe out from its back-strap. The rest of the Evaders (except Drondee, who was still down on the sand) sprinted after him.
As they got near, the figure bent over the other one suddenly stood up again, and walked calmly into one of the ancient buildings that were on the street.
"OH NO YOU DON'T!" Ulli bellowed, he jumped over the still writhing man and leapt into the building. Adolphus Fell and Ajantis followed him. Anomen and Bongo ran up to the stricken fighter.
* * * *
Ajantis ran up to the wounded person with Anomen. He gasped when he realised that the man, although he looked young from the distance that they originally saw him, he now looked incredibly old, at least over one hundred years old. The man wore ornate armour, but seemed too weak to be able to stand up in it.
"What did the man do to you?" Ajantis asked hastily. The man looked sadly up at him.
"He robbed me of my life."
"But your still alive, did the man hurt you?" The response was harsh laughter.
"Did the man hurt me? Could you call it a man? It didn't hurt me… no… but…" The man gritted his teeth, he was dying, "But… it robbed me of… of my years of life… seeing its symbol summoned it… it… makes you age… too quickly… too much…" With a final burst of strength, the man grabbed Ajantis' long black cloak. "It… if you see it… beware… these letters… D… E…" The man coughed loudly, "A… T… H… Beware the symbols… beware the… messenger…" The man's fingers dug deep into Ajantis' cloak. His entire body went rigid. His eyes stared blankly into space. Ajantis prised the man's dead hand off his cloak.
"What was all that?" He said to Anomen and Bongo.
"Well, whatever killed him wasn't human, and it did have a large amount of magical powers." Anomen replied.
"Well, that might help." Bongo said, nodding to a small leather-bound book that was lying on the sand next to the man's body. Gingerly the hobbit bent down and picked it up. "It's a diary. It should be the missing piece of the puzzle. He turned to the back pages and read aloud.
Ulrich told me that we'd be rich. That we'd be famous. That we'd have enough power and wealth to conquer half of Middle Earth. Now I took at him, face down in the sand with a hole in his back that was created with one of the sharpest axes ever made. I don't know where that overgrown snake-warrior got to, but if I see it I swear by the Gods that I'll send it back into the pit for killing my friend.
Ulrich had told me that he was going to plunder the lost city of Vatos. Legend has it that it was abandoned since before Sauron. Gold and gems said to be worth enough to hire an army to conquer the world was said to rest inside it. We found Vatos, but the guardian proved too much for my friend. If there are any more they'll have to get past me.
Bongo looked up, "It ends there." He said. Our friend didn't write anything that might help us.
"Not so." Ajantis said, rubbing his hands with joy. "Did you hear that? All that money. All that gold."
Anomen smiled, "Well, I don't think that we'll achieve much by just waiting around out here. Come on, let's go." They walked up to the building which Ulli and Fell had leapt into. Just at the entrance. Anomen stopped and smiled again. "Vatos." He said. He shook his head and walked in, turning left down a two-way passage with Ajantis and Bongo, wondering if Ulli and Fell had destroyed 'the messenger' yet.
Inside the building it was a lot colder than the heat of the main square of Vatos. And that could only be good. It was dark, but Anomen could see what lay ahead of him. They were walking through a thin, tall corridor. It was a moist place, with gargoyles leering down from the ceiling. It was also a very long passage. Anomen was beginning to believe that Vatos was just one huge building.
A thudding sound ahead made his put his hand on the hilt of his warhammer. Ajantis heard the sound as well and in the blink on an eye whipped out his palm-sized crossbolt pistol. His other hand reached inside his cloak, Anomen knew that it was gripping his concealed short-sword, one of the sharpest weapons that he had ever seen in his life. He relaxed as Ulli Runecarver burst out from the gloom ahead of him, closely followed by Adolphus Fell. Ulli looked furious.
"Bastard got away!" He panted, "He just disappeared!"
Fell nodded, "Yeah, I dunno where he went. We were faster than him, no way he could've just gone like that."
"No way that it could've just got away, you mean." Ajantis said gravely, he told Ulli and Fell what they had learnt.
"Hell's maw, that killer's something." Ulli said in disbelief. "Just think, if I could find it, it would surely suffer! Its dark. Hobbit, we need the light of your talisman."
No answer.
"Drondee, we need the light that your talisman gives us." Anomen said impatiently. "Drondee? Where are you?"
The entire group suddenly froze.
"Ah…"
* * * *
Drondee Templewob opened his eyes. He must be dreaming, or dead. The shattered gates of a city lay before him. He clambered up to his feet, burning sand bit into him. It hurt a lot. He wasn't dead, or dreaming. He staggered inside the city.
"Ulli?" He shouted in a voice that betrayed his fear. "Adolphus? Anomen? Bongo? Ajantis?"
No answer. Drondee took a large swig from his water flask. He spat out half of it when he trod on something squishy. He looked down. Black blood stained the black sand. It was a newly dead body of what looked like a giant armoured snake. Shuddering, he followed the footprints that he saw walking up through the city. He shook his head as he walked up to another dead body, this one of an immensely old man. He noticed footprints leading into a nearby building. He hobbled in. Noticing that there were two ways to go, he turned right.
Ten minutes later, Drondee was beginning to feel that he made the wrong choice of direction, water dripped from the ceiling down his back. It was getting progressively darker. With a sudden flash of inspiration, he reached in his shirt to take out the talisman of Loth. He stopped. The hairs on the back of his neck prickled. Something was not right. He reached into his shirt again, and suddenly felt a light tap on his shoulder. He jumped, and turned around.
"There you are, I didn't think that I would ever find y…"
He stopped as he saw the figure that had touched his shoulder. It wasn't any of the Evaders, he doubted that it was human.
It resembled a thin bald old man. It had no eyes, just empty sockets, and nothing in its mouth, no teeth, gums or even a tongue. It lightly leant forward and in a gurgling voice, whispered a word in his ear.
"Death."
The way in which the creature had said the word made Drondee stagger back in shock. He blinked and when he next looked. It was gone.
The hobbit tried to remember what on Earth that thing was. It might've been just a crazy old man with no eyes, but it seemed…
No
Drondee's blood turned to ice. He wished now that he had never read the book in the shire that belonged to Sam Gamgee – 'Sauron's Advisors and assassins.' Sauron had all kinds of Helpers at his command. The wizard Shekkla, the warrior Krell. There were many, but one had always piqued his interest.
Nobody knew if it was human. Perhaps it once had been, but Sauron had used the creature for amusement. In return for its services, he granted it leadership over one of his cities – Vatos. Perhaps that was where he was now. It had no name, as it could only say one word, the word that it had just said to Drondee. Due to this, those that survived contact with it gave it a simple name.
The messenger of Death.
The messenger of Death was a killer that detested victory by brute strength. It far preferred making an opponent use its intelligence to survive, not its strength.
A death by the messenger was a long drawn-out one. It induced none other than head-shattering terror into the hearts of the victims. The messenger would play a sadistic 'game' with its victim. Firstly, it would whisper the word 'death' in the ear of the victim. Then it would move ahead of them and place the letters D, E, A, T and H somewhere in concealed places; like in boxes, or scratched in on windows. If the victim saw every one of these letters, then the messenger would reappear and kill by adding one hundred years onto the life of the victim. Even if the victim didn't see all of the letters, fear would prove more than a distraction to them, especially if they were looking for something, it would be off-putting to say the least if a man was looking for a small artefact and looked in a chest, only to find a letter etched into the side of it. Drondee prayed that he wouldn't suffer the same fate as many others who lost the game of Soaron's greatest assassin.
He had to get out.
Away from the messenger's distorted game.
He started back across the tunnel. He heard footsteps fast approaching him. With a nightmarish vision of it being a 'D' on legs running to get him, the Hobbit looked around for an exit. As luck would have it, he saw a circular grill just a few metres along the corridor. Sunlight peeped out from it. The Hobbit ran over to it. Some of the bars were even bent to form a small opening. He smiled, it was a tiny gap, but it was a start. He clambered up and his face turned white as he realised that his luck may well have run out.
He could see why the bars were bent.
Many of them were missing, the only pieces of metal left in the centre of the grill was a long, vertical bar, and one welded to it, but slightly to a banana shape.
Unmistakably, it was a metal 'D'
END OF PART VII
Hmm, that's a 'to be continued' ending I think. I'm not sure I really liked that chapter much though, but let's hope the second episode of this part of my fic is better. Don't worry, the 'Vatos' part of my fic won't be four chapters long, like my 'Krell' one. Hopefully the Evaders will be safely out of Vatos by the end of chapter VIII. Anyway, try to review. Thanks for reading.