(A.N. I just noticed I didn't put a disclaimer in, but then again we all know who wrote Lord of the Rings. If you don't, congratulations on successfully living under a rock for the past 40 years or so. *grin* However, Azra is mine. You steal, I keel you. And now back to the action.)
"Azra! News from the nine!" Sharuk's yelling jolted me awake. I sat straight up in the throne.
"What news?" I asked eagerly.
"They have found the ones who have the Ring!" he said.
"That's fantastic news. I knew they could do it," I said.
"However, things have not gone quite as planned," he said.
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"They've found 'em, but they've been unable to capture 'em. The Witch King succeeded in wounding one of them, and some of the others chased down the elf that carried the wounded one," he reported.
"And?"
"And they got a bit caught up in the river outside Rivendell. They're on their way back as we speak," Sharuk said.
"Who has the Ring? Is it an elf?" I asked.
"Something called a Hobbit," he said.
"What's a Hobbit?"
"Very short, apparently," he replied. "Baggins was the name of a Hobbit." This called for some research.
"Thank you. I'll pass it on to Lord Sauron. He will surely want to see the Witch King when they return," I said.
"Very good," Sharuk said. I got up and went rooting through the library. There had to be some record of a thing called a Hobbit. I was interested to see what had control over the Ring. I found them to be horribly boring creatures. They were small, as Sharuk said, and lived only in the Shire. Personality wise, they were the least likely creatures to come across the Ring. Gollum had been like a Hobbit once and we all saw what the Ring did to him. It was too powerful for them. It was too powerful for most mortals. It was then I decided to take matters into my own hands.
Sauron had been gifted at the art of shapeshifting in his bodily form. He could fool just about anyone. That was how he had gotten control over the nine in the first place. Since the Naz-gul were quickly proving themselves to be too slow for my tastes, I thought I'd do a little spying of my own. First, I needed to learn how to do it. I consulted Sauron.
"The Ring is in Rivendell, my lord. The nine just sent word of it. They are on their way back," I said.
"Do they know who carries it?" he asked
"A Hobbit," I answered. "Also on my way back from Isengard, I met a man on the road. He said he was going to Rivendell for a council. I suspect word of the Ring has spread. We are no longer the only ones after it."
"No, my beauty, we have never been. The hearts of mortals will always desire its power. I created it that way," he said.
"And what of immortals, like the elves? They must at least feel some of it," I said.
"They do. After they defeated me, it was an elf who pushed Isildur to destroy the Ring. He failed, of course," he said.
"So the elves make everyone else do their dirty work," I said.
"Yes,"
"Typical of them. They can't stand to do much other than sit around a look pretty," I said. If Sauron had been more than just an eye, he would have smiled.
"You want to ask me something," he said.
"I wanted to know how you could shapeshift," I got right to the point.
"I knew you would ask about that someday," he said. "It is not difficult. Men are easy to fool."
"So how did you do it?"
"It is not so much changing how you look, but changing how they see you. If you have the aura of a friend, then they will trust you. If not, they will not. It is that simple," he said.
"How do I do that?" I asked.
"You got the man from Gondor to tell you where he was going, did you not?"
"Yes,"
"Then you have already begun. He did not see you as a threat so he did not see any reason to hide it from you," he said. "But men are always the easiest. Elves and dwarves are both suspicious. You will have to work harder to make them believe you." I nodded.
"I see," I said.
"No one who is alive today in the world of men has ever seen you. They do not know you are my servant. Your beauty will make them trust you," he said. "If you wish to seek them out, I will not stop you."
"Thank you," I said. I would not be so foolish as to march into Rivendell. They would know I was a stranger and immediately suspect me. Sauron had commissioned Saruman to keep an eye on this business as well. A wizard named Gandalf had come to him, asking for advice on the Ring. Gandalf was also bound for Rivendell. That made three, so far, that were there. The wizard, the man, and the wounded Hobbit and the elves and dwarves. One of them had the Ring and we were not about to let them keep it.
The nine returned to Barad-dur a few days later with their complete report. As expected, Sauron had a long discussion with the Witch King. As it turned out, there were four Hobbits and a man traveling together. The man was not the one I had seen, but a Ranger. A female elf had taken the wounded Hobbit to Rivendell and they assumed the other Hobbits and the man followed. The number of people headed to Rivendell was increasing at a disturbing rate. It started to feel like all of Middle Earth knew who had the Ring except us. I decided to bide my time and wait until something changed. Odds were this council would result in some kind of action.
I did not have to wait long. Soon word came from Saruman's spies that there was a party moving East from Rivendell. He was not terribly specific about how many there were or what they were, but it was a start. I was with Sauron when Saruman gave the news.
"They will head for the mountains. I will give Gandalf no choice but to pass into Moria," he said.
"But there's a..."I started. "Oh."
"It will take care of it for us and then the Ring will be reclaimed. Some of your orcs still roam there as well," he said.
"That's true," I agreed.
"They shall take care of it," Sauron said.
"I want to see this for myself," I said.
"Do you really feel that is necessary?" Saruman asked.
"I will follow them through Moria untouched. You just tell me when they are about to reach it," I said.
"Do as she asks," Sauron said. "I would like a pair of eyes where yours cannot reach."
"They will reach the doors to Moria in three days," he said.
"Then I will go now. I want to be waiting for them," I said. I gave neither time to reply. This party was of great interest to me. I felt confident enough in my shapeshifting abilities that if they did see me, I could get away with it. Once again, Angath and I were off on another adventure. It would take about four days to get through the mines, assuming my orcs didn't get to them first. If the orcs couldn't get them, the Balrog would. I had never actually seen a Balrog, but I was told it was one of Morgoth's more genius creations. The dwarves had mined too deep once and woken it up. Even the orcs feared it. In my opinion, waking anything up is a bad idea to begin with, much less a creation of Morgoth.
We reached the gates of Moria and I let Angath go. She would meet me on the other side in four days. I waited for the moon to hit the spot where the door was supposed to be. Sure enough, glowing words appeared before me. It was written in elvish.
"Elvish? What in the..." the elves hated the dwarves. Why the message above the door was written in elvish was far beyond me. Fortunately for me, I could piece together enough elvish to read it. I would worry about the reasons behind it later.
"Speak friend and enter," I read. It was a good thing no one was around. A servant of Sauron's speaking elvish was enough to get you killed. I racked my brain for the elvish word for friend. They never used that one around me much. I knew plenty of elvish insults.
"iMellon/I," I said. The door lurched open. I smiled. That was the luckiest guess of my life. Otherwise I would have been standing out there until the mysterious party arrived. I went in and pushed the door closed. Now to wait for them to come through. It was pitch dark and I had nothing on me that would make a suitable light. It didn't matter much, I was not terribly interested in what dwarves kept on their floors. It was standing in the dark in the mines of Moria when I truly began to question my sanity. I was surprised Sauron had let me go. But Sauron never let anything happen without a reason. There was some reason he had let me pursue this madness, even if I would never know it. So there I stood, silent as the dead, waiting for them.
I had drifted off to sleep when I heard voices. I leaned back into the shadows and waited. I couldn't make out what they were saying, but there were at least two voices. Then silence. I grew increasingly nervous as I waited for the door to swing open. Finally it did. The first one in was a wizard, then the man I had seen on the road to Mordor, then an elf, and a dwarf. Suddenly someone I couldn't see started yelling. The four already in the door turned around and the man ran back out, followed by the elf. I resisted every urge in me to look outside. I could only assume the inhabitant of the lake had gotten hungry. I took the opportunity when they were all looking out the door for me to get a better vantage point. I squeezed into a crevice by the stairs. They all ran inside just as the door collapsed.
"Now we must face the long dark of Moria," the wizard said, putting a lit crystal on his staff. I watched as they walked passed me and counted nine. In addition to the four I had seen, there was another man and four small, humanlike beings. I assumed they were Hobbits and one of them had the Ring. This must have been the man who was with them when the nine encountered them at Weathertop. I was surprised there were still four. A wound from a Naz-gul's sword was fatal to most mortals. The elf looked familiar. I could not imagine why, but for some reason I thought I had seen him before. If I had seen him before that meant he had seen me. It also meant I'd have to keep a very low profile on our way through. He would surely remember me. I darted ahead of them and continued doing so until they stopped nearly a day and a half later. They were lost. Again, leave it to men not to ask for directions or consult a map. I took this opportunity to find out where my orcs had been hiding. They would probably still be there when I got back.
I climbed up to the higher levels and began to listen. Orcs were terribly loud when in the company of just themselves. I followed the sounds of banter and chatter until I came across a rather large den of them.
"Master," the lead orc, Borgob, said.
"I have some news of interest," I said. "There is a group of nine companions who just entered here not long ago. We believe they have the Ring."
"We ain't heard nuffin," one called.
"They have taken great pains to remain undetected. They fear the beast that waits at the bridge," I said. They shuttered.
"We should relieve them of that fear, shouldn't we?" I said. They cheered.
"Let's get 'em!"
"Kill 'em all!"
"Where are they?" Borgob asked.
"I left them at the two doors. It's almost directly down from here but it will take at least two hours to get back," I said.
"It won't take no time. We can move fast," another said.
"And we got us a nice new friend," one said.
"Oh?" I said. Three of them dragged out a cave troll.
"Well now, that certainly changes things," I said.
"Don't it though?" Borgob said. I smiled.
"They should be right where I left them," I said. "They were lost. Their leader, a wizard, could not remember the way."
"How long since you left 'em?"
"A few hours," I said.
"Then let's go. Ambush 'em," They cheered again.
"As you like it," I said. They got their weapons and the cave troll and we made our way back to the divergence. We were forced to take a longer route down as the troll was not much of a climber. When we arrived at the spot I had left them, we were disappointed. They were gone.
"Now what?"
"I know which way they took. Follow me and we should catch them in no time," I said, gathering up my robes. Then we heard a horrible crashing sound. It sounded like something had fallen down a shaft.
"That's in the tomb," Borgob said.
"Let's go," I said. We took off running to face the Fellowship for the first time.