Chapter 2
***
Razzuga gazed out from her window, looking over the fields where the slaves were working, and on to where the western horizon disappeared into the haze. After a moment her eyes returned to the parchment in front of her. It was still blank, but picking up the quill she started to write.
Having read the letters of Kirzangila, the great Empress from many years ago, I am determined to record my own thoughts for others to read in the future. I have no one to send these letters to and so will write them, but will not send them.
I am Razzuga, daughter of Mauburz. My family is …. , but what is the point in writing this, I doubt whether you would care. Let me instead tell you of the events of my life, but they are not very exciting. I will record my thoughts or something – anyway I will write what I like. Gutka, who is my only real friend, has told me of the calendar of Gondor and so I will use this in these letters. It is very different from our calendar here.
Date: 4th of Lótessë, 3019 of the Third Age
I am missing Olrat, as always, I wonder where he is now. I wish I could have gone too and seen all that I have heard so much about, but that was not possible. I wish he could write to tell me that he is still alive and recount what he has seen, but even if there was someway for a letter to get back here it would still take so long that it would not in fact be any guarantee that he is still alive. It takes more than a month to travel to even the very nearest edge of their lands and I do not know how much further the army will have marched.
From where I am sitting I can see the workers in the fields. Even they have more freedom that me. I am caged, when was I last outside these walls? I can walk in the gardens, but they are still enclosed. I believe it is almost five years since I left this house. It is so long, how I wish for the freedom that women apparently have in Gondor, to be allowed to walk through their cities or ride in the countryside.
The last time I left here was for the coronation of the new Emperor. His father had died suddenly and the funeral had been held immediately. Thus the coronation was going to be a very big event. I remember the face of the new Emperor vividly, it seemed cruel and mask like. Now I hear gossip that he is insane and that he murdered his father. Even then I did not consider him sane. Why did no one else see it? Why did no one do anything about it? At dinner parties I hear the men talk; they still seem to respect him and give him the worship that he demands. I wish I knew why they do that. If I can see that he does not deserve it, why can't they? Or can they? Do they not speak simply because they are afraid or for some other reason that I can not understand?
I wish there was something that I could do to change my life. I want to travel, learn more and be free to do as I wish. Why is that not allowed? When Olrat returns I will marry him. But will he allow me to do as I like? When he returns, I realise it is not actually when but if, for all I know he is already dead. I hope not. I was pleased when my father decided I was to marry him, unlike all the other men I have met he seems kind and used to listen to my chatter and in return tell me stories of his travels or tales that he had heard from others.
All my thoughts return to him, as he is my future and only hope for a better life. If he is dead then I will be married off to another, who will no doubt treat me correctly, according to our customs, and I will remain in his house as invisible as I am here, until the day I die.
Tears formed in her eyes at the thought and standing there she did not fight their fall.
"Mistress, why are you crying? I heard no bad tidings." Razzuga's maid, Gutka said.
"It is my thoughts that make me weep. Indeed you would hear any such tidings long before me, I believe. Why must you address me so formally? We are alone."
"It is not my place to speak to you otherwise."
***
As sunset approached, Razzuga stood beside the open window, watching the skies, as if she were a priestess expecting a sign.
"Lady, it is time for you to go down to dinner. Your father is expecting you. Watching the southern and western skies will accomplish nothing, what do you expect to see? If you do not come down at once there will be trouble. Your father is very lenient, but you can hardly expect him not to punish you, if you make such a show of your misbehaviour."
"I wish to watch and what might I miss seeing by not watching?"
***
The guest at the dinner party was the commander of the local garrison, a northerner who had grown up in the foothills of the Mountains of Shadow. He was well known as an efficient and ruthless commander, which was why he had been left in charge of the most dangerous section of the southern boarder with a tiny contingent of troops instead of being sent west with the rest of the army and why Mauburz had invited him to discuss the situation. He was not as old as might be expected, having begun commanding troops at a very young age. Grubzar waited until the slaves had been dismissed, as he wished the dinner to seem a purely social event and so did not wish the conversation to be overheard and perhaps repeated. As ever the two women might have been invisible. He reached for more wine and turned the conversation to important matters.
"These are uncertain times, and rumours are flying. It will surely be in the best interests of both of us to cooperate and share what information we have, I believe."
Mauburz learned forward not believing his luck; this was a perfect opening for the conversation he wanted.
"True. We certainly have more to gain from cooperation. What news have you heard of the war?"
"No definite tidings, but as I said there are many rumours. One of my subordinates has just returned from leave in the capital. It is whispered that Sauron has been defeated, and the whole army massacred. They claim that Gondor is defended by an army consisting of the dead and Elves!"
"Surely, that is impossible."
"Apparently no more messengers have come from Sauron, so perhaps there is some truth in the rumour of his fall, although I agree the others seem very implausible. They say the news came from a few survivors who have made it back to our border."
"What do you expect will happen now?"
"War with Harad; only fear of Sauron stopped them attacking before, and who can blame them when we are such a tempting target. I have fifty men to hold this stretch of the border while they can muster an army of thousands over easily. They never sent so many of their forces west as we did, and so a mighty army could be raised to fight us."
"What of the Emperor? Will he not forestall this threat?"
"I fear that any action will have to be taken without waiting for orders. What do you intend to do now, will you stay here or move your household to the capital? If the latter, what force can you leave behind to aid me?"
"I have few men to leave. Look about you, all those of fighting age are with the army in the west, and by your tidings I fear dead. If you think war is imminent, I will move my household and leave you all that I can in the way of both soldiers and supplies, but sadly not much of either. These are indeed dark times."
"And growing more so by the day, for now none of our borders seem secure: west and south Harad, and who knows whether the alliances to the east will hold."
Their discussion
continued into details, and soon afterward Grubzar took his leave. He was moderately satisfied at the way the
evening had gone, but still hoped that in the longer term there would be
opportunities for a closer alliance with Mauburz.
***
"Is it possible? Can Sauron really have been defeated, our army destroyed, Gondor defended by an army of the dead and Elves? Each part seems more unlikely than the last." Razzuga paced to and fro, thinking out loud.
"An army of the dead, that reminds me of a ghost story my brother told me, so many years ago …," Gutka continued speaking, but Razzuga was not listening,
"Is Olrat dead, are all my brothers dead? That cannot be; I remember watching them march away from here. That so great army is totally destroyed is past imagining! And now war comes here, and we are going to move to the capital. At least I will get to see more there, visit the daughters of other noblemen. Perhaps my father would even let me go down to the markets. At last I have some hope of escape from the boredom of my life…"
"…Isildur, to …"
"Isildur, what did you say? You were talking about ghosts and now you mention Isildur. Tell me what you said."
"Isildur cursed the dead for not joining him to fight and so they haunt Erech. The story tells of how those who go up the valley at night come back mad, if they return at all…"
"So you think
these ghosts have risen to fight for Gondor?
That is impossible, but the story may be where the rumours came
from. Do you also have a story to
explain the army of Elves?"
"That is even stranger, and seemingly more impossible. The Elves kill any who enter their lands, why would they defend Gondor?"
"I wish there was some way that I could find out the truth."
"Well any news will come to the capital first and so you will hear it sooner than if you were to remain here."
"Indeed it will and I hope that I can learn of Olrat's fate, if he is dead I would prefer to know than to keep hoping in vain."
***