DISCLAIMER: Not mine, no matter how much I want them to be.

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Lanal was pleased. Everything was going according to plan.

The fortress of Barad-Dur was not exactly in livable condition, but she was managing. After all, she had long ago learned to live in the worst conditions, and she rather enjoyed having corpses for company.

Her spindly fingers stroked the palantir gently, seductively. She could see each of them, each of the four pivot points, and each of them was in her possession. It had been easier to claim them than she had thought, though the little one with the hairy feet had surprised her by fighting back. The elf-lady, of course, was predictable; she had tried to puzzle out what was happening to her before mounting any kind of a defense. The fey warrior had been quicker to act, and the beast Lanal had sent after her had been gutted and fed to its fellows for nearly letting her escape.

And the Lady Radika...what a triumph! Lanal had doubted, secretly, that her power would not be strong enough to reach into the Undying Lands and snatch away the silver beauty like a ripe fruit. She had pleasantly surprised when her minion had caught Anemosi unawares on the beach. Victory was indeed sweet, but revenge would be sweeter.

Revenge...the word echoed beautifully in her mind. Revenge for her Sauron; broken, defeated, and at last destroyed. The memory of that cursed Isildur slicing her beloved's fingers from his hand was bitter in her mouth, and the image of him falling away from her after the blasted halfings had somehow managed to destroy the One Ring was even more painful. She still burned with the pain of losing him. She always would, until she had found a way to release him from wherever he had been sent.

And now she had her chance. Withdrawing her hand from the palantir, Lanal turned around and gracefully exited the room. She walked quickly through the corridors, avoiding the patches of sunlight that pierced through the ceiling. Her soldiers saluted her as she passed them, but she ignored them as she always did when she had no need for them.

She stopped at a heavy black door, and with a single touch from her pale, thin hand it flew open into a dank, stinking room. Dirty , rotting piles were slowly festering into mold in the corners, and filthy water flowed from the ceiling, but Lanal knelt down beside the still form that was huddled on the center of the floor.

"Wake up!" she hissed and slashed the figure cruelly on the cheek. Her victim moaned weakly, but still caught Lanal unawares when a leg whipped out and connected solidly with the backs of Lanal's legs. She stumbled, and Merrie reared off the floor to dive at her while she was distracted.

A single glance was all it took to slam Merrie backwards into the sharp stone wall. She felt the rocks scraping layers of clothing and flesh off her back as she tumbled into a limp pile on the floor.

Crossing swiftly over the fetid puddles, Lanal delivered a series of short, crisp kicks to Merrie's side, then hauled her up by the neck and drove the back of her head against the wall. Merrie bit her lips to hold back a cry of pain as her vision shadowed red. When her sight cleared, Lanal's face filled her eyes.

"You remember me, don't you, little soldier?" she hissed, red flecks of acidic saliva hitting Merrie in the face. "Your mother told you stories about me, about what I was capable of, didn't she? Didn't she?!" Merrie spat in her face; it was a brave thing to do, and a stupid one. With insane strength, Lanal hefted her in one hand and tossed her across the room.

Merrie hit the floor with a sickening thud. Something cracked and broke inside, a burning feeling seeping into her lungs. Lanal's nightmare visage was hovering over her again, and smiling like a graveyard cracked open.

"I'm taking back what is rightfully mine, you see. You all had a hand in destroying my life, and now, I am taking it back. All of it." Lanal leaned down as Merrie held her side, panting helplessly in pain. "You forgot about me, you fools. He hid me away, to make sure he had something left in case he should fail. And I awakened when my summons came." She smiled again, and Merrie felt the pain fire anew in her side.

"You will not win," Merrie gasped. "There are those that will stop you..."

Lanal laughed coldly. "Who? The elves are leaving, hiding away in their Eressea, but even that is not safe from my hand." She stood gracefully. "Nowhere is safe. No one is safe...not even your beloved Lady Radika, or the adored Queen Arwen."

"Lady Radika!" moaned Merrie. "You don't dare!"

"Oh, but I do! I dare indeed! Even now, she is mine, and her weak little halfling lover could not save her. I have the four that I need, Mistress Merrie, to bring it back...to bring back all that I have lost."

Merrie coughed weakly. "So why do you come to me to gloat? Surely your esteemed presence is needed elsewhere."

Lanal lifted her right hand slowly, and suddenly, at the door, two beasts, twins of the one that had come to claim her, were filling the doorway. "I do not come to gloat...I come to summon you to my game room. I would not want you to be bored while you wait for your purpose to be served. Welcome, Merrie of the Fey, to the world of my dark delights."

The creatures crept forward, slavering darkly at the mouth, and Lanal closed the door behind them. It would be a good show.

No matter how hard she tried, Merrie's cries still echoed throughout Barad-Dur.