DISCLAIMER – I don't own any of Tolkien's characters or Middle Earth place names etc

Druluk slowly regained consciousness. As he tried to sit up, he heard Ylfronir's voice

'Druluk! Are you alright?'

''m fine…' he mumbled, blinking as his surroundings came into focus. He was lying on a rough stone floor. As he managed to raise himself into a seated position he found that he was in a small, semicircularly shaped cell with a heavy looking metal gate barring his way out. In the light cast by a torch clamped to the wall on the other side of the passageway outside his cell he could see that Ylfronir was similarly imprisoned, in a cell diagonally across the passageway from his.

'Where's Nathradril?' he asked Ylfronir, as he tried to ignore the pounding in his brain

'Cell next to yours,' replied the elf shortly, 'but it looks like she's still unconscious.'

Druluk leaned against the wall, feeling its irregularities dig uncomfortably into his back. He needed to think. What they had seen back there…

…but he had barely conjured up the scene again in his mind when he heard the sound of footsteps in the passageway. He gritted his teeth and forced himself to stand upright, grabbing the bars of his cell to support himself. He pressed his face to those same bars to try and glimpse who was approaching.

It was another of the…orc females…he supposed he had to call them. Part of him hoped that he was still unconscious and that this was just some horrible hallucination, but he knew he was in too much pain for that to be true.

'I am Thrrl,' announced the newcomer, 'I speak for the Collective. Tell us your names.'

'Druluk,' mumbled Druluk, 'Um, what's the Collec…'

The orc had swept past him, and now stood in front of Ylfronir

'Your name, elf?'

'Ylfronir…and she's Nathradril…'

Thrrl spun on her heel and returned to face Druluk,

'Where are you from, Druluk?'

'Isengard…well…not strictly any more…'

'Explain.'

Druluk tried to collect his thoughts

'Explain.'

Patience clearly wasn't a concept Thrrl was familiar with.

'I…well…we…well…I sort of ran away from Isengard…'

'You deserted?'

'We rebelled. We threw off the yoke of Saruman's slavery, we…'

'How many others went with you?'

'Ummm…'

'Six hundred and twenty two,' said Ylfronir helpfully

'Silence, elf!'

Thrrl glared expectantly at Druluk,

'How many?'

'Umm, well, like Ylfronir just sai…'

'How many?'

'Six hundred and twenty two' he repeated reluctantly.

'Where are the others?'

Druluk thought quickly. Thanks to Ylfronir's pin point accuracy there was no point in trying to threaten Thrrl with the thought of a vast army waiting nearby to come and avenge his death, so he replied

'Far from here.'

'So what are you doing here?'

'Just exploring. We aren't trying to tread on anyone's toes, if you let us go then I'll go back and tell the others that the Mines of Moria are strictly off limits…'

'The Collective will decide when and if you are to be freed.'

'OK, um, I was just wondering what this collecti…'

'Why were you in the company of these elves?'

'They are my…' Druluk had been planning to say prisoners, but somehow the word stuck in his throat, '…friends.'

'Elves are not welcome here. Only a few weeks ago many of my sisters fell to elf-arrows,'

'These two mean you no harm.'

'And why should we trust your word?'

'No reason,' sighed Druluk slowly, 'there's no reason at all why you should.'

Thrrl turned abruptly and started walking back down the passageway.

'Thrrl, please!' Druluk cried desperately, 'Tell me what's happening here!'

She spoke without looking round,

'The Collective…'

'What the hell is the Collective?' he shouted, 'Look, I'm not trying to negotiate with you, I'll do whatever you say, but please…'

Thrrl stopped. She stood for a moment perfectly still. Druluk's heart beat loudly in his ears and he chewed the inside of his cheek, wishing he could take back his outburst.

'The Collective,' she began at last, spinning round yet again and walking back towards Druluk's cell, 'is…all this,' she waved her arms vaguely. 'I and all the other workers here…and the Queen of course…'
'The queen?'

'Might I just…?' interjected Ylfronir,

'No!' said both Drulk and Thrrl in unison, then Thrrl answered Druluk:

'The Queen is our mother.'

'Your mother?'

'All of our mother.'

'Excuse me?'

'All. Of. Our. Mother.'

'I heard you, but I don't understand…'

'What's to understand?'

'I, um…How many of you are there then?'

'About fifty thousand workers…'

'Fifty thousand? And you are all…'

'Sisters.'

'But how…?'

'The Queen is the only one who lays the eggs.'

'Eggs?' Druluk was starting to feel light headed, 'eggs?'

'Well what did you think happened?'

'I…didn't…I…'

Thrrl raised her eyebrows…

'But why are you all…y'know…female….'

'When the young develop in caves near the surface it's colder, and they become males. When the young develop in the warmer caves deep in the heart of the mountain they become females.'

'That wasn't what I asked…' Druluk fought to keep focussed as Thrrl's face grew grave.

'We used to fill the surface brood caves with eggs and block the entrance, then return after a month to release the new male young. But many years ago we were forced to abandon this practice. Five times in a row our brood cave was robbed.'

'Robbed…' repeated Druluk, not really aware of what he was saying, as dark corners started to creep into the edges of his vision,

'Yes. And now that you have arrived, talking of Isengard and Saruman, we can have a good idea of what happened…'

Druluk sat down heavily and rested his forehead against his knees. Thrrl reached a hand through the bars of the cell to prod him

'Are you OK?'

Druluk blinked, and raised his head slowly

'What do you think?'

Thrrl looked confused

'Yes, I'm OK,' said Druluk irritably, 'just carry on.'

'There's not much more to tell. We abandoned our surface brood caves, apart from the drone cave which we guarded day and night, and we started to use Cave Trolls as soldiers instead.'

'Drone cave?'

Thrrl gave an exasperated sigh

'The drones are…well…uh….you know…'

'I'm sorry, but…'

'Someone needs to impregnate the queen in the first place!' snapped Thrrl, 'OK?'

'OK…'

'But most of the time the drones are pretty useless. They have their own little settlement in some of the upper caves, right over on the other side of the Misty Mountains. Whichever of the last generation of drones…ah…got lucky….sets himself up as a 'king'. It's pretty laughable really…'

'Ha ha,' said Druluk, hollowly.

'So for the most part we can get along just fine without males at all. We can defend ourselves, and the cave trolls help, so there's really no need for soldiers…'

'Soldiers?'

'Yes, that's the only other reason to breed males…'

'The only other reason to breed males…'

repeated Druluk, slowly,

'Well, us workers are all female. It used to be the case that we would get on with finding food, looking after the Queen and tending the brood caves, whilst the males would guard the perimeter and see off attackers…'

But Druluk was no longer listening. He closed his eyes and willed this all to be a nightmare. Thrrl's voice died away and eventually he heard her walking off along the corridor.

'Druluk?' Ylfronir said softly, 'Druluk, I…' but even the elf was lost for words.

Druluk's mind swam with all that Thrrl had revealed. He felt horror, frustration and curiosity mixed in almost equal quantities. And he could hardly believe how blindly he had made his way through life this far, not even questioning how his own had came into being. So this was how Saruman had built up his army – by robbing young orcs…no, kidnapping them…taking them away from their rightful home. But at the same time he felt horror at the nature of that very home…this…this hive in which he now found himself prisoner. And to have escaped the involuntary military service of Saruman's regime only to discover that his birthright was just that – to be a soldier – crushed the last of the vague dreams he had been idly clinging to.

There was no salvation for him here or anywhere….The taste of metal suddenly flooded his mouth. He had bitten through the flesh of his cheek. But he couldn't feel any pain.

……………………………

Someone was speaking to him. Ylfronir shook himself out of his reverie and looked round in confusion, but he was still in the orc cell. The voice came again. He felt that he really ought to know what it was saying and yet…

'Ylfronir, for the last time…' he suddenly realised it was Nathradril. And she was talking in elvish. It had been so long since he had heard his own language spoken that he had not recognised it at first.

'Sorry, what did you say?' he replied in the same tongue, moving to the front of his cell to look across at her.

'Where are we?'

'We are being held captive by a group of orcs who call themselves the Collective…'

'Ylfronir, did you see that those orcs back there were…'

'Yes.'

'Do you have any idea what's happening?'

Ylfronir took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, staring at a dark stain on the wall of his cell.

'Ylfronir?'

He swallowed hard, and proceeded to outline, in as matter of fact a way as he could, what Thrrl had just told Druluk. When he had finished there was a moment's pause and then

'Intriguing…'

'Intriguing!? Is that all you have to say?'

'What else should I say?'

'It's…well…it's…unnatural!'

'It's the way they do things…'

'How can you be so…'

'What?'

'So infuriatingly calm! So…'

'…hush, Ylfronir…I think someone's coming…'

Ylfronir pressed his face against the bars and squinted down the passageway.

'I don't think…' he began, but just at that moment a figure rounded the corner at the far end. It was another of the orcwomen, wearing the same design of leather tunic as Thrrl had worn, but which on her was straining to get round her huge belly. She carried a round container in each hand, and as she drew closer Ylfronir saw liquid slop out of one. Her dragging steps eventually brought her to the three occupied cells.

'Water,' she announced, breathing heavily. She held out one of the containers in Ylfronir's vague direction. He threaded his arm through the bars to take it, and saw that it was held in a leather flask. Nathradril was handed one similar. But when she came to Druluk's cell she reached for the key which dangled from a chain around her neck. Ylfronir saw him jump and scramble to his feet in confusion, saying

'Huh?'

'You are to come with me.'

'But what about…?'

'You are to come with me.'

'OK, OK…'

'Attempting escape will be pointless…'

'Uh, right…understood…um…where will…?

'No questions.'

'OK…'

From where Ylfronir stood, escaping from the custody of this particular representative of the Orc Collective seemed like a fairly realistic possibility…but then there were probably more guards in the surrounding passageways. He watched as she slowly unlocked Druluk's cell and grabbed his arm. Druluk met Ylfronir's gaze with incomprehension and fear in his eyes. Ylfronir tried to look encouraging, but deep down he felt the situation to be entirely hopeless. He slumped back down in his own cell, raising the flask to his lips. But just before he took a sip he saw the orcwoman stumble slightly as she marched Druluk back along the corridor…He lowered the flask thoughtfully.

'Nath?'

she gulped down a mouthful of water and pulled a face

'Tastes foul… What did you say, sorry?'

'Nath, have you still got your rope…?'

'I doubt it, they took my bow, my knife…but…hey…' she dug into the deep pocket of her robe, 'what do you know! They missed it!'

She drew out the slim coil. It glimmered slightly, even in the dank cell, and as he saw it, Ylfronir felt renewed hope.

'Right,' he said, crouching at the edge of his prison and eyeing the corridor, the flaring torch bolted to the wall and Nathradril sitting in her own cell, looking at him expectantly, 'this is what we're going to do...'

It had taken ages to perfect their plan and make the necessary preparations, and all the time Ylfronir's heart had been thumping, expecting a guard to appear at any minute. But now there was only one more thing to do. He removed his cloak and tore it in half…a job made easier by the fact it was already pretty threadbare. Then he took his flask of water, and Nathradril's, which he had asked her to toss across to him, and poured their contents all over the rectangle of cloth. Holding the soaked fabric in one hand, he reached out between the bars, stretching as close to the torch clamped on the wall as he could reach. Then, with a single flicking motion, he tossed his cloak over the flames. As it left his hand he squeezed his eyes tightly shut, not wanting to know whether he had failed at this crucial moment….but the hiss of extinguished embers and Nathradril's relieved exhalation told him all he needed to know. He opened his eyes to pitch darkness, and settled down in his cell to wait.

He lost track of how long they sat in the darkness, both too tense with anticipation to speak. But eventually they heard dragging footsteps and heavy breathing approaching. Ylfronir smiled nervously to himself, as he had hoped it seemed to be the same guard. But he could only hear one set of footsteps, so it looked like she was not returning with Druluk. This did not affect his plan, but it added another dollop of worry to the cold tension in his stomach. The footsteps drew closer and Ylfronir heard an exclamation of annoyance at the darkness. He held his breath for a moment, but then heard the footsteps draw closer still. So she hadn't gone back for another torch. So far so good.

'Bloody shoddy torches…' he heard her mutter, 'tinder boxes should be standard kit these days, I must speak to Thrrl…' then, 'Right,' her tone changed as she approached the cells, becoming harshly authoritative, 'Drink up prisoners, every last drop, it's the last you'll see for…a whi…argh!'

There was a heavy thud as she tripped over the rope they had stretched taut, an inch above the floor, diagonally between their two cells. In a flash, Ylfronir sprang to grab at her through the bars, preparing to drag her heavy form towards his cell, and get his hands around her throat if necessary. But she was not struggling. It seemed that by some miracle the fall had stunned her. Feeling weak with relief, Ylfronir still pulled her towards him, and reached for her neck, but this time just to get hold of the key which hung there. It took some contortions to unlock his own cell door, but the adrenaline coursing through his body let him strain his wrist with barely a thought. Then it was the work of seconds to scramble over the prone orc guard and free Nathradril.

'Where to?' she asked

'Druluk,' replied Ylronir without hesitation.