And There Were Four

By Aldesina

Chapter 1

Disclaimer; As usual all the character in the Lord of the Rings books do not belong to me

Author's note; This take place before the Lord of the Rings take place so while some of your favorite characters will be present, there will also be many of them missing. It's been awhile since I've seen this so it will be receiving some major overhauls.

Until then, Do Enjoy.

"Are you certain about this?"

Fingers tapped a slow steady rhythm on the arm of a chair. "It would not be advantageous if you are mistaken."

"I swear that it is the truth"

"Do you now?"

"Yes"

"Why are you telling us this?" Another voice interjected.

"There doesn't seem to be anything in this for you. Why do you so willingly hand this information to us?"

A man dressed in a courtly tailored dark medieval armor bowed his head and looked up into the face of one of the four seated women in front of him. Despite their joint positions their personalities were quite different. He spread his arms wide as he looked up, hands out, palms upward; A sign of neutrality, a white flag.

"I do not believe it is practical to harm your good name. Since these imposters have done this, I feel that they should be punished."

"Practical!" One of them snorted, "And what does one such as yourself know about practicality?"

"You want them out of the way."

The man looked up to his right. What came to view was the only occupant in this room that had not spoken throughout the entire conversation. She like the others had an aura of power around herself, although it did not seem as strong, it seemed gentle, youthful, and had a tinge of hope in it, misleadingly green. He smiled inwardly to himself; a tiger in swan's clothing. He'd have to watch out for this one.

"Yes, that much I will admit to"

"Now why in the world would you want that? They seem to be doing no different then what you are trying to accomplish yourself, I don't see why you don't just form a truce with them and be done with it." The man turned his eyes back to the left side of the room. The woman who sat on the far left side had spoken, she seemed to be the youngest of them all. Although the idea she had just proposed to him had struck him beforehand he did not want such a compromise.

"I offered them such my lady, they did not take it."

"Liar" The quiet one on the far right spoke again.

"You offered them no such thing, you came to us first."

That aura of power rippled and expanded in a wave until it was just on the edge of touching the darkly dressed man. He shuddered and took a step back.

"Do you believe that we are assassins to be called upon whenever someone pleases?" Her voice did not raise but the gentle power around her flared once more, controlled, and snapping. The wave shot at him knocking the man backwards several feet.

"Sister! Was that necessary?" The one on the middle left stood up. She seemed to be the one in charge; he should try to appeal more to her.

"He is holding his own motives back my sister." The swan had once again settled her power back in within herself; calm, gentle as waves lapping upon a beach. The man shuddered again, not a trace of the violent power that she had just unleashed lingered. Now the one on the left seemed to be overpowering her. He looked at the one on the far right again, it seemed that he was not the only one holding back.

"He has given us some very important information." The one in the center left continued, she angers easily he thought to himself.

"Which is why I did not kill him." The swan replied.

"Calm yourselves," The one in the center right said, she seemed to be second in the ranking order, and had spoken as much during the meeting as her other center seated sister. She now stood up to look at both her sisters on the left and right.

"I think we're done here, don't you agree?"

"I quite agree with her, we should not argue over this" The swan said.

"There would not have been an argument if you had not just knocked our guest over." The center left sister was persisting even after the apology, how childish, the man stored away that piece of information for further usage.

"There would be no problems if you didn't have to point out every fault and flaw" The man raised an eyebrow, problems within the hierarchy? Perhaps, but to make a show of it in front of him?

"Do you wish to argue about this front of him" The woman on the far right said, she looked up, her features were perfectly composed, a swan's placidness, but her eyes flared once at the other woman; a tiger's challenge. The other woman shifted slightly, but did not change the expression on her face.

"Very will then, Sauron," The center left sister turned again to the man in front of her. "I thank you for your information, and we will soon come to inspect the situation."

"I thank you, my ladies" Sauron bowed his head deeply, this visit had deemed more fruitful then he had first thought it would be.

"Oh and Sauron. . . . . " Sauron the man who was dressed in medieval armor lifted his head again to look at the women, the little tiger in swan's clothing had spoke.

"We owe you a favor for this don't we?" Sauron smiled, it was what he had hoped for, for a split second triumph showed in his face, then was shattered by her next words.

"I think if we take care of these imposters and remove them from Middle Earth it will be enough to cover our debt to you." The woman in the far right smiled slightly as she said this; a slight upturning of one side of her lips. "Don't you think?"

"Of course my lady" Sauron bowed again, grimacing inwardly. That bitch.

"The means that we owe each other nothing, is that understood?"

"I wouldn't think any other way my lady." Sauron answered, head still bowed

"Well if that's all settled, I'll have Maren escort you out" The one in the left had spoken. Sauron lifted his head to the four seated women again, inclined his head slightly and followed the servant girl out. He had gotten only partly what he wanted, but no matter, he did not need the four of them to help him once his plan was set in order. All her needed to do was get rid of his four supposed superiors. The ones that had dared call themselves The Four Horseman of the Apocalypse. He followed the servant to the portal that had been opened for him; he stepped through it and was once again back in his tower. He grinned evilly as he looked down and saw four horsemen galloping toward the fortress. They would soon die. Once that was done, Middle Earth would be his.

"Seal"

With that one word the palace Sauron just left barricaded itself entirely turning into an impenetrable force. The walls glowed to life revealing for a split second their seals and spells that had been placed on them centuries before and strengthened every decade before dimming to darkness again. The air around the castle shimmered and stormed, power raged inside the clouds hiding the castle poured forth and caged the castle in fog, thunder and lightening. Without warning all dissipated taking the palace with it as if nothing had been there before. The castle itself now invisible shifted and launched itself airborne to a destination unknown. When it was completely off the ground it shimmered once again as if bidding farewell and disappeared for good. A cloaking device cleverly designed with magically enhanced mirrors reflected back and filled in the image of whatever the castle flew by, so no one would see the castle. No one would see what they were not supposed to see. The final and perhaps most visibly threatening defense were the creatures that suddenly appeared out of nowhere to guard the castle and perch upon the castles walls and the interior courtyard, They too were covered by the mirrors, but if something got to close to the castle they would see these creatures; floating menacing glaring at them suspended in the open air. The size and appearance of dragons, they were winged, fanged feathered and scaled and furred. Hopefully that was enough to warn the passerby to stay away. That is of course assuming they were not stupid.

"Do you think he bought it?"

The one seated in the middle left asked. She tilted her head toward her fellow sisters as she said this. She was short, even for a woman, with spiky white-blonde hair that barely framed her pointed face. She was pixie like, in every essence of the word. Not only in her hair but in her facial features as well. Her skin was pale and milky enhanced by the sapphire choker at her throat. She had large shining blue eyes, a pert nose and full pink lips. Her robes matched her eyes, a deeply saturated cerulean blue. It was light and flowing, belted at the natural waist and pleated down over her abdomen to her dark blue slippered feet. The sleeves were wide and bell shaped; tight and fitted across the shoulders and wide down by her wrists. The robe was cleverly designed to enhance her good features, and hide the not. Many men have looked upon her and remarked that she was a beauty. And with the fairy like body and energy she seemed herself to be one of the fey. But she was not.

"Oh I think that it worked well enough. Although he did not seem too happy when he realized that we weren't going to owe him a favor for his advice"

The one that had been sitting on the right of the blue robed woman stood up and walked over to the table and poured herself a cup of honeyed wine. She smiled at that comment. Her mouth was wide and did not have the full lips that her blue dressed sibling had. She had wide set eyes that swirled with shades of gold, light brown and white, like the sprinkling of fur across a fawn's back in the spring time. Her skin was tanned and golden shimmering like the single gold earring she worn in her right ear. Her hair mirrored her eyes. It was a light brown curtain shot with white that was drawn and fastened to the sides of her face by small gold clips. Her robe was green, with a turned over collar and straight wide sleeves. It was fastened at the nape of her neck, and split down the middle like a cloak to reveal a dark green spilt skirt dress with light green stitching. Unlike her blue sister she wore boots; dark brown and sensible suede. She was a handsome woman, with strong features, a contrast to her blue sister.

"Not like he could have done anything about it."

The woman on the far left smiled as she said this. She raised her hand and gestured at the wine pitcher that was beside her green sister. It lifted without a tremble and spilled a goodly amount of its contents into a empty goblet standing nearby. She signaled again with a wave and the pitcher sat itself down and the full wine goblet floated over to her smoothly and surely never even thinking of spilling a single drop. The woman in green stared at her.

"Show off"

"Yes I am"

The seated woman smiled even wider and drank from her cup. The color of the wine was so dark it was almost brown. It matched her hair perfectly. Unlike her other sisters who had hair that were all above waist level, hers flowed down her back in soft curly red waves past her waist resting at her hip. It framed her petite heart shaped face. She had wide doll like eyes that were a vibrant green like a cat's. It entranced every man that she met. Her lips were wide and full with a slight natural pout. Her skin was flawless, and light gold. This was only made more beautiful by the glittering gold necklaces that wrapped around her throat and gleamed sparkling in her eyes. She wore a shimmering white robe with a low square cut neck that left her shoulders bare and showed off her ample breasts. Her sleeves were gathered and tied three times down the arms and flowed draping over her hands where several gold rings lay. The front of her robe was gathered and tied under her breasts, pushing them up higher and then slimming down to show her slim waist. The robe ended at mid thigh exposing long legs, ending with small golden heeled sandals with white ribbons binding them to her ankles. She looked regal and utterly seductive. Many men have fallen to their knees at her whim, she looked great and she knew it. But beauty isn't always truth

"Well sister? What do you think?" You haven't said a word since he left."

The only sister left was the one that sat in the far right corner.

"I think we should go to middle earth and see what's really going on. If someone truly is impersonating us we should stop them. Besides," Her dark eyes clouded for a moment swirling in a bluish white mist. "Middle Earth's time has not yet come to an end."

She looked up as she said this turning her eyes to each one of her sisters in turn. Her eyes were dark dark blue and looked black to the naked human eye. They were long and had a shadowed look in them. They were just slightly wide set on her oval shaped face. She was also pale, but not as pale as her blue-attired sister, but her raven black hair made her skin seem lighter then it truly was. She had small cherry lips that were full and just as seductive as her white sister, but unlike her white sister whose face was strongly defined and set on her face, this woman's facial features were delicate, easily overlooked unless she wanted you to notice her. She wore a robe of black. A high collar surrounded the back of her neck that flowed to a low cut V that ran halfway down her abdomen. The top of her robe was fitted to her form and the sleeves were long and slim. From the hips the robe was heavy, with two slits in front of her thighs so it would not hinder her walking. They showed off a pair of black tights tucked into knee high soft leather boots. She was the tallest of the three of them, and dealt with her height well. She had her share of men lusting after her, a glance from her usually sent them scampering. It is said she possessed eyes that were colder then hell itself.

"Hmmm, I have to agree with you on that Iclyn" The blue robed woman addressed the black robed one.

"Is that the name that I will be using…Fauna?" Iclyn asked her slyly.

"Yes, and I think I will call myself Jezebel" Said the woman in white. Fauna snorted, "So what else is new, you and that harlot always did get along."

"Jealous?" Jezebel sent a flicker of wine in Fauna's direction.

"Call me, Lain" said the final woman in green. "And for the God's sake Jezebel, put a muzzle on that mouth of yours." A glance at the four women would put them at around the ages of twenty to early thirties. They were much older then they looked.

"I say we go open that portal again and go take a look at this Middle Earth" said Fauna. "It would be nice to see a world before it's time of destruction for once."

"Agreed."