Chapter XXXIII: Home Again...Sort of
"I assume that means good news, sir," Garulf growled from his seat atop Baradu, where he and Grishnákh sat watching Mornië continue to laugh. Two projections, one of Vrayon, the other of Turdú, glimmered on two different chairs beside the other Generals.
"They will be in the Dead Marshes within the week," Mornië cried gloatingly.
"Excellent," Turdú murmured.
"And, once Vrayon secures his ring, thee acquires the Night Crystal, and Grishnákh retakes possession of the Dwarf ring, which," Mornië paused, stroking his goatee, "We could most likely do without, if need be, we will be set for domination. Garulf, dost thou carry the other dwarf rings with thee?"
"But of course, my lord."
"Good. Do not lose them."
"Never, lord."
"Now, Vrayon," Mornië said, turning to the projection, "The Noldor are running right to thee. Dost thou wish for assistance in their demise?"
"I need not ze help of ze infid...," the vampire caught himself, but not soon enough. Garulf's red eyes blazed with a deep hatred. "Leadersss," Vrayon continued, either ignoring or not noticing the Lychen, "And Turdú appearsss to be razer occupied."
The Drow general nodded in confirmation, "Though, I would happily divert my mission if it resulted in the death of the Noldor."
"No, thou wilt not," Mornië snapped. "Thy mission is perhaps of even greater importance. And Vrayon, I would not stretch myself to thin if I were thee. To fight the dwarves and the Noldor on two fronts would be quite unwise."
"Yesss, lord," Vrayon agreed half-heartedly.
"Grishnákh, you and Garulf are to go and assist Vrayon in slaying the Noldor," Mornië ordered. "You are under his command while in his country. Understood?"
The orc and the lychen both looked incredibly unhappy, but nodded in agreement.
"I would leave now, if I were thee," Mornië hinted.
The generals stood, saluted angrily, and stormed from the room.
"Infindelsss," Vrayon hissed after they were out of earshot.
Mornië smiled, "Yes, but we must keep them around. That is, until their usefulness has run thin."
Vrayon cackled, but Turdú's mind wandered back to the night before, to the sight of Dilotè sitting like an emotionless statue atop her horse. Infidel...is that all Dilotè was to Mornië? Another rung on the ladder of bodies Mornië used to climb the wall of power?
He was awakened from his thinking by Mornië.
"Vrayon, thou art dismissed. Good luck with the dwarves tomorrow."
"Zank you, sssir."
The vampire's image flickered and vanished as Mornië waved it away.
"As for thee, my brother," the Dark Lord said to Turdú, I need thee to perform two tasks for me."
"Name them, Master."
"One, get my Night Crystal."
"Already working on it, sir," Turdú answered.
"Two, I need thee to pay a little visit in the Dead Marshes. There is a party about to occur there, and I am formally inviting thee and all thy troops."
"I am honored," Turdú responded with a smirk.
Mornië returned the vicious smile. "Dismissed, General." With a wave of the Dark Master's hand, Turdú's image vanished as well, leaving Mornië alone atop Baradu.
He once again strode slowly to the palantír and placed his hands atop the orb.
"Now," he whispered, "To invite the other guests..."
Garulf stood and waited for Grishnákh and the other orcs with his own small entourage of warriors he had chosen to embark on the journey to Ramgost.
"So, what are we doing again?" Wyvren, Garulf's Captain, growled.
"Saving the vampire scum," the General replied somewhat angrily.
"Well, good, that's got to be torture for them," Wyvren rumbled with amusement.
"We'll be under their command," Garulf snarled.
At this, the other lychens in the assembly began grumbling their complaints.
"What kind of scum would order that? The vampire himself?" Wyvren bellowed, his red eyes glowing even brighter.
"Maneva Mornië."
The company fell dead silent; treason and speaking against the Dark Lord was grounds for immediate execution by the Drow death squads.
The cluster of lychens was mostly still silent when Grishnákh and the rest of the heavily armored Uruk-hai marched up to them.
"What's our plan, Garulf?" Grishnákh growled.
The lychen shrugged. "What's the fastest route from here to Ramgost?"
The orc thought for a moment.
"I have no idea."
"I'll tell you what," Garulf said, cracking his knuckles, "Let's go around the east side of Belgor and kill anything we can find in Pelinor fields, then go through Isen Meares."
"Won't that be difficult?" the orc argued. "Isen Meares is full of enemies, isn't it?"
"Not if Turdú did his job right."
With a slight double-pop, Lynza and Draylen dropped beside Mordae and Celebdraug, who stood, dumbfounded, staring at the 'Tvhesta Fortress.' Draylen leaned his head in between the elves.
"Problem?"
Mordae nodded. "Two things. One," the elf gingerly reached a hand up and gently pushed aside one of the blades from Draylen's staff, which had come to rest dangerously close to his face. "Watch where you're pointing that thing. Two, you made Rivendell into your fortress?"
Lynza pranced lightly around the three and stood in front of them, smiling. Her happy expression disappeared as she saw that of the elves.
"You do not like this?"
"Well," Celebdraug sighed, "I suppose it's better than being overrun by orcs."
Lynza brightened. "Come," she said cheerily, "You will see. We left it how we found it. Very pretty, elvish stuff."
She began to strut down the path to the city, which, from the outside at least, appeared to be as the vampire had said; the only change was the Tvhenstan flag rather than the Sindarin flag flying from the posts.
The elves did not follow, still a bit thunderstruck at seeing their old home in use by another race.
Draylen reached to his back, adjusted his staff so the blades were nearly vertical, then, good-naturedly took Celebdraug's arm. He attempted to grab Mordae, but the elf playfully disengaged his arm and twisted the vampire's lightly around.
"Fine then, suit yourself," Draylen whined mockingly.
He then began to follow Lynza, dragging Celebdraug along with him. Mordae followed a moment later, his long strides allowing him to catch up quickly and walk with the other two.
They soon arrived at the entryway to the main section of the city, where Lynza stood, waiting. She guided them into the main 'throne room', where Elrond's guests would mingle before moving to the council room. All the elves had called it the throne room despite the fact that there was no throne in sight.
As they entered the room, a flood of memories hit Mordae and Celebdraug. They recalled the many pranks and innocuous vandalisms they had instigated, the grand meetings of the various leaders of Middle Earth in Ages past, and all the friends they had once known in Rivendell, all of whom had long been slain or passed to Valinor.
They were rather surprised to see all the old tapestries, paintings, and other decorations still hanging where they originally had; not a single ornament, down to the suits of armor that lined the walls had been changed or moved.
"I must say," Celebdraug murmured, "I am impressed. It looks good."
"Thank you," Lynza gave a slight, sarcastic, bow. "Now, if you don't mind, I need to go and get rid of these," she gestured to the various weapons she wore. "You may remove your swords, bows, and other weapons, if you are carrying any, in your rooms."
Mordae pulled aside his outer cloak, revealing the dozens of blades the elves concealed.
"Oooh," Draylen muttered in awe. "Isn't that heavy?"
Celebdraug tossed one of her long daggers she wore against the side of her chest to him. He caught it and was immediately shocked at the weight.
"It's light as a feather!"
"Mìthril," Celebdraug explained, holding out her hand for him to return the weapon.
The vampire shook his head, sliding the dagger under his light plate armor on his chest.
"I'm keeping this thing," Draylen announced mischievously.
"Like Udun you are," Celebdraug growled teasingly.
As the two wrestled for the blade, Mordae turned to Lynza.
"So," he asked, "Where are our rooms?"
She shrugged. "No idea. They're your rooms, aren't they?"
"Oh! Our rooms. But doesn't somebody live there?"
The vampire shrugged. "Most likely. But they will be more than happy to give up their room for you, I'm sure."
"If you say so." Mordae turned around and wrapped one arm around Draylen and one around Celebdraug, who squealed with discontentment, and picked them both up off the ground.
"Let's go, you guys."
