Author's note: Revised Chapter
Chapter 2: Valdumus
Arrogant and right is surely better than humble and wrong.
- Geoff Arbuthnot
In the early hours just before dawn a cold wind blew over the desolate tower. In its prime of old it had been a mesmerizing, if not terrifying, power. The tower was made of black stone dug from the very pits of Mordor. Rising straight and high into the sky like the black finger of Morgoth. The top of the tower was made to have jagged and horrible spikes protruding from the top. Grotesque gargoyles circled around the top and other places in the likeness of everything from ancient demons to horrible snarling beasts. The huge gate was made of steel with distorted and disfigured animals etched into it. Along the top of the gates were ruins carved into the lentil that no one, even its current master, remembered what it said. The tower was in somewhat of disrepair and in desperate need of tending. The huge gates hung at an angle and the tower stones where broken or cracked in places. Some of the gargoyles were crumbling or had broken off entirely. The state of the tower did not take away from its appearance, though. It made the already dark and foreboding place look very eerie.
The grounds around the tower supported this effect also. The land was barren of life and dull in color. There was nothing green, not even grass, within a half a league from the tower. The surrounding land, stripped of fertile soil down to the clay, was almost gray in color. It was as if the ground itself had been too corrupted to support life anymore. Littered all around the grounds of the tower were remnants of former structures. They were foul and sloppily built buildings that had over time fallen into disarray. These were once used to house a massive army of orcs and other cruel beasts. The army of orcs had long gone from this place, but not all of the vile things were yet gone. Dark things yet lurked in this land. It is said that after the elves have lived in a land it does not easily forget them. Not easily does the land also forget mistreatment and especially mistreatment by the nazgul. For this wretched place was once the heart of Carn Dum, the capital of Angmar, and the home of the Witch-King. Abandoned by him when the elves and the Dunadein defeated him in the Battle of Fornost. He was chased to the Ettenmoors where he disappeared and fled back to Mordor. The land has never forgotten the time he dwelt here. A veil of fear and hopelessness still continues to this day to cover this place.
In a dark and drafty room there sat a figure that the cold wind bothered not at all. He was the current master of this tower now and had a great resistance to the cold. He sat there biding his time until his pet returned. He could feel her now and knew that she was close. She would soon be here. He had just returned home when he felt her drawing near. When he had felt her presence he could tell something was different. He could feel that she was rather content with herself tonight. Even more so than usual, he thought with a ghost of a smile. She has been up to something this night that has appeased her. Yet why do I even care? he thought. Because she distracts me from this monotonous existence, he answered himself. The last nine hundred years have been far too dull. In the long ago days when the Witch-King still dwelt here there was plenty of entertainment. So here he sat abiding his time until his master regained strength and would need him again. Speaking of abiding where was that vixen anyway. Just then he heard one of his servants coming up the stairs. What does that dolt of an orc want now? He thought. The heavy wooden door slowly creaked open on its aged and rusted hinges and before the servant had a chance to say anything he cut him off.
"What do you want snaga?" he hissed out. slave
"It is close to dawn, my lord Valdumus," said one very uncomfortable and frightened orc.
The orc was afraid he could tell. They were usually afraid of him and for this reason Valdumus never appeared in his true form to them. Not because he cared for their mental sanity, but because it made it more efficient for him to order them around when they weren't sniveling at his feet. Morgoth, long ago, had given his kind magical cloaks that allowed them to take any humanoid shape they so desired. Right now Valdumus appeared as a male mortal of about thirty with medium length blonde hair and pale features. His long black cloak hung around his shoulders and spilled over the seat of his chair to the floor. The cloak was as black as the night, but at the same time seemed to glimmer. It reminded one of how the ocean looked at night; a deep black void that never seemed to be still. Even in this guise the servant could still feel the dark aura that crept from his master and it sent a chill him to the core.
"Agh, pushdug?" and, dung filth
Ulak the orc just stared at his master. He knew very little of the black speech except for a few words and one of them being snaga. Yes, he was very aware of that word. Ulak did not know what this particular phrase meant and could think of nothing else to do but stare. Valdumus turned his pale face toward the pathetic creature and saw that the ignorant beast didn't know what he had said. Was decent help to much to ask for? He thought with a mental sigh.
"Yes, idiot, I am aware of the time! What do you want?"
Hearing the impatience in his master's voice the terrified creature shrunk back towards the door and desperately tried to remember what he had come up here for. He did have a reason for coming up here if only he could get his jumbled mind to remember. He gathered his wits and nerve together and tried to answer his master in a voice that was confident. Which he totally failed to do and his voice quaked as he answered.
"Naschak has arrived from Dol Guldur, my lord, with a message froms ones of the nazgul there."
"Send him up, then."
At this command the orc almost began to grovel, which caused his voice to raise an octave.
"He's already left."
"What! Did that detestable werewolf deliver a message or not? Well, speak!"
Relief suddenly flooded through the orc. This was something he could answer.
"Yes, my lord", he said as he came closer and handed his master the parchment.
Valdumus reached out a long and pale hand and took the parchment. He then turned his cold eyes to the orc wondering why he was still standing there. The ors stood there beaming as if he had just slaughtered a whole troop of elves by himself.
"Is there anything else?"
"No, my lord," said the orc as he looked over and saw the irritated expression on his masters face.
Ulak wasn't very bright, even for an orc, but he got the message loud and clear. He was out of the room and half way down the hall in the blink of an eye.
Valdumus broke the seal on the parchment and unrolled it. As he did he felt her presence finally sweep in through the window. He ignored her and read the message. She waited patiently while he sat there and read. After he was finished he finally raised his head to look at her. In front of him hovered a woman, but not one of flesh and blood. She would have stood quite tall for a woman, being close to six feet tall. She had dark liquid hair that cascaded down her back almost to the tip of her left hand that hung limply at her side. Her other delicate hand was on the bottom lentil of the window. This made it look as if she were leaning against the frame. The features of her face where fine and quite lovely. Large dark eyes stared back at her master sitting in his chair. In all respects she appeared to be a beautiful and shapely woman dressed in a simple black dress. The only apparent flaw, which was very noticeable, was that the wall behind her could be seen through her. Her beautiful, but transparent, features where seen as through a gray veil. Her full ghostly lips were turned up at the corners in crooked smile. Yes, he thought, quite content. She continued to stare at him with that crooked smile, but said nothing.
"Well, Nadina, I grow bored with this game. Speak, for the dawn approaches."
"An elf is in the valley," she said in a voice that, underneath the airiness of it, was almost seductive.
"An elf?" Valdumus asked somewhat surprised.
What was an accursed elf doing in Angmar? They had not been seen in this land since the Battle of Fornost just shy on a millennia ago. When he spoke next his voice was full of scorn.
"I told you your little trek to the south would not go unnoticed. That land is too heavily watched to go dallying around in it as you please. Did this elf travel alone?"
"Nay, my lord, he travels with a human," she replied as the smile fell from her face, but her eyes still held a malicious sparkle.
"It was probably one of those galling rangers," Valdumus thought out loud.
He sat there brooding for a second and then something seemed to dawn on him.
"You said they are still in the valley? Why did you not kill them?"
"I was going to, and they may yet be dead, but then I thought of you. There has not been any sport in this land for far too long. I know of your loathing for the elves and I waited to seek your council first. If you still desire it they will be dead before midday, my lord. I will go kill them personally. For an elf makes the greatest of feasts," she replied with a malevolent smile at the thought of executing that task.
"I know you better than you think, Nadina. I can see right through you."
He had to stop and smile about the figurative and literal truth of that statement.
"I think you are merely pushing aside your desire to kill these two to sate my displeasure with you. Your venture into the south may yet prove ill for us in the future. But, in one aspect, I think that you are right. It has been far to dull around here of late. You said that they might yet be dead. What happened to them?"
"Oh," she huffed as her spectral lips tightened into a frown.
"Some fool troll attacked them when they drew near the mountains to the south. I think that a thrown rock hit the elf, but I would not worry, elves never seem to die easily. The human slew the troll, but was injured. I think they will both live."
Valdumus could sense that she was not telling him all the details about that story. He was pretty sure that she probably had a hand in the troll's ultimate demise, but he kept this to himself, for it really didn't matter. Yes, my pet, I know you very well.
"Good. Do you know for sure if their destination was Carn Dum?"
"No, I did not get there in time to overhear them talking."
"Go find them and follow them. I want to be sure of their intent and I want to know how much they know about us and what awaits them here. When you learn all you can from them report it back to me. Now go and find them and do not let yourself be noticed. Remember elves have an annoying habit of noticing the unseen. Be wary of his senses. And Nadina… do not help them out. I am sure they can get here on their own. After all, what kind of host would we be if we made it simple for them?"
With that Nadina gave him a dazzling smile that would have melted and stopped a mortal being's heart. She then gave her master a curt nod with her fine head and the ghostly body disintegrated within a whirlwind down to a barely noticeable mist. She blew over to her master and circulated around him. She totally engulfed him a brief moment, an act that would have spelled certain doom for anything else, and then with great speed soared out the window toward her prey.
Valdumus sat still in his chair and saw the first pale fringes of the dawn outside his window. All of the orcs would be down in the lowest reaches of the tower by now to hide from the sun. The other vile things in the land would be retreating to some sort of dark hole as well. This has turned out to be a productive night, he thought. It has been far too long since anything of interest has happened here. For the first time in a long millennia he was actually hoping that an elf was alive. What an ironic idea, he thought, as he chuckled to himself. If they are alive, let them come. I will show them fear, as they have never known before. Morgoth taught his servants well. Especially when dealing with elves. Yes, let them come. With that thought he arose from his chair and started for his chambers in the top most level of the tower to await the coming of the night.
Nadina dropped from the tower and soared over the land in search of the two travelers. She would start her search where she at left them. She didn't think that either of the two could have moved very far from that area if they had even moved at all. She was not even sure if they were still alive. It was obvious that the troll had taken them by surprise; curse that wretched and ignorant beast. She hoped that they were all right; they couldn't exactly please her master if they were both dead. The elf was already down by the time she had arrived. He was laying face down and she could not see how badly he was injured. After all she did not have any substantial hands to turn him over. The clumsy human and troll, on the other hand, had managed to bring the mountainside down on themselves. She had been there to witness that event. The infuriating man had managed to hurt himself during that deed and whatever had happened to him in the fall he did not rise again. The troll, irritatingly enough, was well enough to pick himself up of the ground. Well, she thought with content, at least until I got to him. With that thought she soared over the slowly awakening land heading for a certain spot along the edge of the mountains.