Chapter 6
The muddy road delayed the two travelers. Sasha felt like a cat who was dipped into freezing water. She didn't want to complain about it to Legolas, though she was falling into a fouler mood than that in which she was in the morning. Legolas had promised that they would get to Rivendell by mid-afternoon. The time, as she guessed it, was already about eight in the evening.
"Shouldn't we stop and make camp?" she asked, beginning to feel anxious. It was very dark and she had no idea how they could possibly make a fire under the rain, nor how she would be able to fall asleep.
"We are almost there," answered Legolas. He himself was losing his good mood. "Only ten more miles and we will enter the city.
Sasha sighed inwardly. Middle-earth had been much prettier the day before. Their surroundings looked dreary and hostile. The evening was getting darker, and much colder.
-Strange- thought Sasha; -it's April, the days are supposed to be getting longer and warmer.-
"Could we at least" Before Sasha could finish her sentence Legolas slammed his palm tightly around her mouth. He slowed the horse down and steered it off the road. He bent low, forcing Sasha to imitate. "Don't make a sound," he whispered.
The evening grew unbearably dark. Suddenly, from the bend of the road the Dark Rider once again came dashing by. Sasha's heart sank. The horse she was on was silently making its way deeper into the forest, away from the road. The Dark Rider passed them by as if not noticing them, even though they were very close to the road. But once he had passed, he stopped the horse and looked back. Then, to Sasha's utter surprise, he began to laugh, if one might call screeching laughter.
The rider got off his horse and began walking back, looking straight at them. -This is the end!- thought Sasha. -I just got here and now I'm going to die! We can't even chase it off with fire in this weather!-
Legolas also got off his horse and started walking toward the rider. He took his b
ow with him and a single arrow. Sasha grabbed the rest of the arrows and followed. -What is he doing?- she thought desperately.
The rider and Legolas were two meters apart. The rider was still laughing, and no longer looking at Legolas, but at Sasha, and through his gaze Sasha heard him chanting in his own tongue, and the language was not strange to her. His words came out clearly and pierced her heart as she listened to him tell his tale.
The master of Mordor began to rise
The maker of rings, he was the most wise.
He held in his kingdom the mirror of proof;
He commanded the mirror to give him the truth
And the mirror had spoken of days of his reign
And all of the world would then live in pain.
But two little girls would bring down his power
Put it to an end and destroy the great Tower.
There in Mordor the master had seen
The end to his glory, the end to his dream
So he called on his servants to bring him two women
And he threw them in pain to the most evil demon.
And the women took with them the two Chosen Ones
That the master of Mordor looked down on as puns.
He then did not kill them, but banished them far,
To a faraway world behind a glass bar.
The years now have passed. The girls' mothers died
In torture and anguish, two friends side by side.
The master of Mordor then went into war;
He killed one girl's father at Barad-dûr's core.
The other girl's father was mortal but strong,
But mortals don't live for all very long.
The master of Mordor begins now to rise
The maker of rings, he is the most wise.
He holds in his kingdom the mirror of proof,
he commands the mirror to give him the truth.
Now, the mirror has spoken of days of his reign
And all of the world shall then live in pain.
But the two chosen ones are here on this earth,
And the master of Mordor won't have foul news' birth.
He sent down the servants to finish their job
And here is the girl whose life I shall rob.
Sasha could not stop trembling. She couldn't see anything around her. The world went black, and all she could see was the dark rider. She saw through his cloak the blood of her mother, and his freezing gaze was hypnotizing her. She felt herself falling; where? she did not know. There was no more light anywhere and she was losing consciousness.
Suddenly, Sasha heard a song coming out clearly and beautifully next to her. The song started out very softly, but with each word, it grew in volume and mass. The song took shape, and it did not consist of words anymore, but it became a spirit. It was the most beautiful thing Sasha had ever seen. It came at the Black Rider, and he fled at the sight of it. That was the last thing Sasha saw before falling over and hitting her head on a rock.
