Aliyana awoke to see the red-eyed darkness. The black consumed her vision
where ever she looked. He voice stuck in her throat as she strained to try
and find out where she was. The blindness obscured her and feeling every
sense being piqued, feeling a sharpness at the tips of her fingers. Her
head throbbed with pain and her body ached with every movement that she
made. She could feel underneath her a hard, rough stone floor. Some of them
were broken apart and out of them roots snaked across the ground arching
and falling, twisting and turning.
She remembered Fingal saying something about going to Nurn. The
orc...ah! What was his name? Ôlûren! That was it! Aliyana remembered him
saying something about her powers. She shook her head in dismay, not
remembering anything, wishing that there was someway to see in this dark
prison. The gag was now out of her mouth and she didn't have any bonds on
her wrists and ankles; she thanked Eru for that even though she ached all
over.
Her breathing quickened when she heard something in front of her. It
seemed to be muffled, but audible none the less. There was talking; she
could make out a human male voice but the other was different. It could
speak well in the tongue of men, but it was heavily accented, deep and
scratchy. Aliyana decided to get closer to it by shuffling across the
floor. After a few moments, the voices stopped and then a loud scream came
after. Aliyana jolted back, her head connecting with a wall. She yelped in
pain and held the back of her head, tears streaming out of her eyes.
The scream continued and increased in volume. Then there was a
sickening rip of flesh and the scream grew. The girl felt her heart
speeding, racing in fear. Finally the scream was cut off by a snap and
there was a loud thud. Short barks of laughter followed after that. She was
frightened. She didn't know where she was or what she would do to escape.
What did they want with her anyway? She now remembered Ôlûren saying
something about her having great power. Of course Aliyana knew that she had
the control over some magic, but not this great.
Something caught her eye overhead and she could tell it was some sort
of light; blue and faded. It poured down like smoke, silvery and calm. She
pulled herself to the light, wincing in pain and pulled her knees to her
chest. She looked up to see the moon in its comforting gaze, smiling gently
down upon the girl. Ailyana smiled back softly, until she heard a short
shriek.
The girl looked at the blackness, the light acting as a veil. She
thought she could hear something...scratching. Mice? No it was something
bigger...Something large clawing at the ground. The sound stopped and then
came towards her.
Then it came...it loomed up out of the darkness like a infesting
white shade. It had bristles in its back, almost like quills, one large
muscular arm dragged to the floor, roughly sewn on with some thick thread.
The other was small and crooked, a few fingers missing only showing bloody
stumps. It had no neck, only a ghastly head that was built upon the deepest
and blackest nightmares.
Its white and matted hair covered up most of its visage, but she
could still see its eyes, huge and fish-like, but with a stark white film
over them. The mouth was crooked and bent into strange proportions,
although it hung open, gaping wide, leering down upon her showing its sharp
teeth, sharpened from being chipped, others were blackened and yellowed. It
had a nose, but put together with metal staples, but even worse. Some
didn't even go into its nose. Its legs were bent but small and out of
proportion with the rest of its body. Its skin was so white that Aliyana
could see through it the organs pulsating in a ghastly way that no living
creature could decipher. She didn't scream, she couldn't scream. It let out
a deep, resonating growl that shook her frame. She backed towards the wall
with the thing following her.
Aliyana pressed herself against the wall, rough and callused. The
monster let out another shriek and soon there were two more but their limbs
were differently placed, one didn't have an arm and another had large metal
staples across its chest with part of the flesh overlapping to one side.
One of the creatures procured a knife, crudely made and blackened; charred.
They slowly began to close in on her, no expression their faces as they did
so.
Suddenly there was a loud bang at the front of the room. The beasts
looked in that direction for a second, screamed and ran off. Ailyana, still
huddled close to the wall, looked at the faint light coming from what
seemed to be a doorway. Two large, corpulent orcs made their way inside.
They were Uruk-Hai, and stood to the each side of the door, as a lesser orc
brought in a lantern. From what she could tell, it was Ôlûren. Her heart
leapt for joy when she saw him, but when she looked onto the Uruk-Hai, they
looked sinister and smiled to each other in a secretive kind of way.
Another Uruk-Hai filed in, filled with malice and anger. The light cast an
eerie shadow upon his face.
Aliyana stood, and looked back at it, then at Ôlûren who seemed to be
wincing at what her fate might be. Aliyana looked back at the orc's bright
green eyes. They burned into her, but she took back his gaze. He motioned
Ôlûren forward as he advanced over to Aliyana. Her breath quickened as she
stared up at him. She shrunk against the wall, her heart leaping into her
throat, the look of terror on her face. He was probably thrice or four
times her height. He leered down at her and then took her roughly by the
arm. She didn't struggle out of his iron grip, for if she did try to escape
it would be useless, and she had no idea where to go to at all. Her brow
furrowed in pain but she was smart enough not to give them the satisfaction
of her screams.
The Uruk-Hai forced her out of the door and through a narrow stone
hall. It seemed so cold and so lifeless, filled with nothing. They
continued up the steps through another narrow stone hallway, filled with
screaming of innocents. Most of the prisoners were elven, and others human,
even dwarves. The Uruk-Hai twisted her arm even more as they turned a
corner to get to a turret. She winced and felt fear grab her as they headed
to the open turret. What if they were to push her over the side?
When they were crossing it, she looked up at the moon begging for
comfort, but it gave none, turning away. She looked at its last glimmers
before being ushered into a very dark room. There were some torches here
and there, but it was nearly impossible to see all of the features of the
room, save a glowing fire, the demonic flames leaping high. What Aliyana
could see was that the walls were made of rough slate, chipped and
overlapping. The floor was covered in soot and ash, a few burnt rugs were
discarded over the floor, but no more than that.
Forward through the gloom, Aliyana could see twelve cloaked figures
in front of a bloodstained wall. She forgot who was behind her so she
pressed her self to the Uruk-Hai warrior. He grunted and threw her forward.
Aliyana landed on her hands and knees looking at the floor. She stared back
up at the hooded figures. They seemed to be filled with duress, not moving
at all.
One of them stepped forward, "So...this is the child." A deep voice
resounded but it was lightly accented. The Uruk-Hai warrior put a heavy
hand on her shoulder, so that she could not escape. She stared to the side
at the wall not looking up at the shade at all. There was a silence of
acceptance. "Good, Zargolen. You have done well," The figure looked about a
bit and then asked Ôlûren "Where is the Commander Fingal?" the lesser orc
was frightened "H-he is in conference with The Goddess, Necromancer Lokken"
the figure, now known as Lokken, nodded again. "Then it is time to test the
human," Zargolen quickly pulled Aliyana to her feet and forced her to a
chair. Ôlûren was commanded to strap her limbs to the chair. When he was
finished he gave a look of pity to her before he was rudely ushered off by
Zargolen.
"Are you afraid, child?" Aliyana made no sound, the jaws of fear held
her voice in it's robust grip. "Are you?" Again she made no answer. Lokken
shook his head, amused "Then you are, for you make no answer at all," He
walked away "Men are always afraid...like your father. Such a coward to die
like that, He never said anything to your mother when she died," He turned
back to face Aliyana, who began to feel anger seeping into her thoughts
"...He never even tried to save you. And as for Fionn, well, he's
dead...oh, and your brother too,"
Aliyana ripped past fear "My father is not a coward! You are!" Lokken
turned back as the room echoed with laughter of the orcs, all but Ôlûren.
Lokken advanced "And why do you call me a coward?" Aliyana felt fury begin
to crush her fear "You sent your troops to die, not yourselves. You sat
back and watched them die while you came up with no evil plans. You savored
watching them dying,"
Lokken felt his own anger rising. A simple girl hurting his
pride...as well putting many questions in the orc's heads. He couldn't
think of anything to say back to her, "Enough talk. The real test begins,"
Lokken reached out a gloved hand to her neck. As he held it there he
chanted something under his breath. Aliyana suddenly felt a tingling on her
throat, then it increased to festering, then quickly to a burning hot pain.
She gritted her teeth against it, as she felt a warmth leaking out of her
eyes, blood streaked down her face.
Lokken's whispers filled the room, making her confused and
frightened, hearing the blood pounding in her ears. Suddenly a white beam,
that looked like smoke curled round Lokken's arm. The Necromancer gasped in
pain and he held her throat tighter. Aliyana gasped in his pain, but she
began to hear a comforting voice one that she could not recognize, Lokken
then screamed in pain and removed his hand as if it had touched a flame. A
mark was left on her neck, but it slowly began to disappear.
Lokken held his hand which was now smoking "The Mûndarïn," Aliyana
half collapsed in the chair. Lokken was enraged "She has the protection of
the Moon...there! Can you not see it?!" He jerked her head up by holding
her hair with his good hand. Aliyana winced in pain. There was, on her
forehead a shimmering silver crescent which was slowly fading. His
associates gasped and crowded round, "The mother must have known magic and
blessed her," Lokken cursed under his breath. "Then we shall have to ask
The Goddess for her help,"
"Before she leaves, I will give her something that the Mûndarïn will
not be able to protect her against," There was a little laughter then a
hushed silence as he took a poker from the fire, the edge glowed white with
heat. She knew what he was to do. She tried to struggle out of her bonds as
he slowly saw him coming forward. When was about to slap it to her arm, he
stopped and walked back a step. Aliyana breathed a sight of relief, then he
slapped it to her arm. She wasn't prepared at all, so she screamed, feeling
pain well up inside of her, tears streaming from her eyes. After like what
seemed an eternity, he removed it. Her flesh was smoking and raw, it stung
and burned.
Lokken seemed satisfied and looked to Zargolen. "Take her back to her
cell,"
