No more incidents occurred during the night. The next morning, Gothmog and Erishnak donned armour, lifted their backpacks and went up to the Warg stables. The warg was obviously happy to see them, because upon seeing Erishnak it began jumping around so wildly that the trainer had great difficulties holding it, and was thrown around like a glove. When all parts had calmed down, they mounted and went to the stables to meet up with Záhovar. She was already waiting for them, and as they came into sight Nagíthas reared and shrieked.

"Shall we, then?" Záhovar turned Nagîthas towards the main gate.

"Where you goin'?" Gothmog asked puzzled.

"To the gate of course. We are going to Lug-Burz, remember?" she said.

"I got new orders this very morning. We were to assemble outside the dungeons when we were ready to go," Gothmog said. Záhovar slowly turned to face him, her face now even paler than before, if possible.

"We... are going through the... dungeons?"

"Yes..." he replied. She turned back and slowly up beside him again as they headed for the dungeons. Erishnak mostly looked down on his own hands, now and then glancing at the officer's face. She was... shaking.

As they approached the entrance they found the other officers waiting for them. There were even one of the Nazgûl. Erishnak lowered his gaze, shivering as the cold, merciless stare swept over him and fastened on Záhovar. He still had horrible visions of the earlier accident.

Shadow seemed to seep out of Záhovar's armour and engulf her as she slowly dismounted and strode up to the Ringwraith. When she came to a spot right in front of the Nazgûl she halted, all the time followed by its gaze. With a swift, fluent movement she turned towards him -or it- and bowed.

"What took thee so long, Záhovar?" it asked with a hiss.

"I was not informed of these new orders, my Lord."

The wraith turned to one of the snagas standing nearby.

"Slave," it hissed. The snaga ran up and threw himself onto the ground in front of its black steel boots. "Find the messenger who was to bring the Dark Lord's orders to all officers. Have him killed." The snaga nodded, got to his feet and ran off. The Nazgûl turned towards the company again. "Let us leave. The Dark Lord will not be merciful to those who come in late."

In the meantime, Gothmog and Erishnak had dismounted as well. The group had split up into two. Gothmog was talking to some of the commanders in his own group, and Erishnak took a swift look around, eyeing the other orcs up and down. One of the commanders in the other group caught his eye, and leered at him. That smile somehow gave him the feeling of many small slippery worms crawling on his skin, and he shuddered. The commander, who had seen him shuddering, chuckled and said something to the others. Then he left the group, took a swift worried glance in Gothmog's direction, then came over to Erishnak and knelt at his side.

"Well, hello there," the commander said, placing his hand on Erishnak's back. Now Erishnak saw closely what had caught his eye at first; the strange thing the commander had on his helmet. Except from a horrible scar that literally split his face in two, he had an old skull fastened on a long point on the top of his helmet.

Erishnak had been so fascinated with the horrible decoration on his helmet that he hadn't really noticed the orc that wore it. The commander licked his lips in a discreet manner, gazing up and down his body with an almost worshipping look in his eyes. Erishnak tried to take a small step back, but found himself prevented from that kind of manoeuvre by a strong hand on the small of his back. The commander looked up at him with something that vaguely resembled a reassuring smile on his face.

"You're Gothmog's cub, aren't ya?"

"Yes.."

"Heheh. I haven't seen ya since ye were, oh, about this big," he said and showed with his hand. "You've really grown."

"Maybe..." Erishnak blushed and his face went dark when the commander glanced at his body again.

The commander cocked his head. "You're a shy one, eh?"

"Maybe... What's that thing on your helmet?"

"Heh, it's an Elf head. Got it in a fierce battle."

"Oh... uhm.. Isn't it, uh... a bit... old?"

The commander laughed. "Perhaps.. Maybe I should get a new one. It was nice when it was fresh, you know. All shining with fresh blood, face twisted in pain... Now ye can't even see what gender it is."

Erishnak wrinkled his nose. "Yuck.."

The commander laughed at his disgusted expression. Then he looked at Erishnak's armour and smiled.

"So, I see you got your armour," He said. "I had to bribe the snaga to keep him from stealing it. Heh, my moneybag still hurts.." Erishnak gave him a puzzled look.

"You gave me this?"

"Yeah."

"Oh.. I thought father gave it.."

"Too expensive, little one. Say whatever ye want about yer father, but he can't handle money."

"Oh... hm.. thanks. Y- you're not angry 'cause I didn't thank you before?"

Gothmog laughed at a joke when someone suddenly poked his in the ribbons.

"What the- "he began, but one of the others hushed him, pointing to the right with his thumb. Gothmog slowly turned his eyes in that direction, and caught sight of.. 'Oh shit, not him! Not Poshnak,' he thought as he leapt towards them.

"No, not at all," the commander said. Then he suddenly lifted his hand and placed the fingertips on Erishnak's lank hair. Slowly he pulled the fingers downward, over Erishnak's brow, his nose, his lips... then he carefully tried to insert a finger into his mouth. Erishnak tried to squirm away, but it felt like someone held him rock steady. He felt as though someone grabbed his hair, pulled it downwards and pulled his chin upwards. His eyelids grew heavy, and he began opening his mouth... when something hit him hard from behind.

Pradish had managed to grab Erishnak out of the way, just before Gothmog dove down on Poshnak's throat yelling in fury. Now they both sat on the ground, watching Gothmog and Poshnak fight like rabid Wargs, trying to rip each other's throats out, before Záhovar came and parted them.

"I'll kill ya!! I kill ya if ya touch my son again!!!" Gothmog roared.

"Come off it!" Poshnak replied just as loudly. "That cub will never become a proper warrior anyway, with a father like you! Give him to me, I'll make a man out of him!" he sneered.

"Oh no, not a man!" one of the orcs from Poshnak's group jeered, and all of them broke into loud scornful laughter.

"Well, not a man then... But at least he'll become useful. Just like you, remember?" Poshnak said, leering at Gothmog, who roared again and tried to reach him.

"Silence!! Both of you," Záhovar shouted. "Commander Poshnak, you go back to your group and stay there! Gothmog, you too! If I see anyone from the groups talk to each other again during this trip, you will all be punished! Now move!"

The groups began to walk in through the huge opening in the mountainside. Záhovar gathered Nagíthas' reins and led her down into the cave.

The first part of the tunnel was lit up by torches. Here it was quite dry, and in the side caverns most soldiers of the army lived. As they went deeper and deeper in under the mountain, however, sight became restricted by the darkness that seemed to creep up from every shadow. Soon, it was pitch black around them. Orcs could see in the dark, but this unlight was too much even for their trained eyes. They lit some of the torches and went on.

In here, the burrowed tunnel ended, and was continued by the natural caverns created by the eruptions and tumult of Orodruin. Not even the orcs that lived here knew how far these caverns stretched under the earth, or what kind of creatures lived here. Some said that one could walk from here all the way to the black Chasm in the Misty Mountains. But whoever wanted to try was insane. Everyone had heard of the Terror that slept in the Chasm, and the monster that guarded its western gate. Whatever it was, both creatures had arisen from the Deep when those stupid beard-heads had delved too deep in there. Even the great spider in the pass above Dushgoi was said to have come from the Deep. No one wanted to awake any such creature on this trip, so the group went on in silence, only whispering to each other in the dark.

Now and again the glimmer of eyes could be seen in the darkness beyond the torchlight, and at some times strange sounds echoed up from the unreal depths. Mostly it was only soft chirps from some rodent. Only once did a rolling roar echo along the cavern walls.

The way was marked out with white paint on the stalagmites, so they would not get lost. But it was still a nightmare to Záhovar. She hated, and feared this place where she had been kept when she was first captured. They had tied her hands and feet, then placed her on the floor of a cavern like this one. By the time they came to bring her back, he had been covered in spider webs, with tiny spiders crawling all over her. Since then she could not stand being underground. She had to use all her self-control to keep herself from turning and running madly back to the surface, or to shake like a leaf. She had even, when Gothmog had come up from behind and lightly tapped her shoulder guard to get her attention, punched him in the face before she saw who it was.

Erishnak spent most of his time close to Gothmog, only making short trips on his own. When they halted to rest, he played 'warg and prey' with the rodents and huge insects in the caverns. The rodents were too fast for him, but he had managed to catch a big, slow bug with a black shell and yellow spots. The bug however, had spewed some disgusting, itching liquid into his face, and then disappeared beneath a rock. Erishnak took his revenge after Gothmog had washed the sticky liquid out of his face, and pushed the bug into a canyon where a thundering river made its way through the darkness, laughing evilly when it was swept away by the water.

Gothmog mostly kept close to the warg. This place was not really one that he liked, and he could not do much when having to press a cloth to his bleeding nose, which Záhovar had punched the first day down here. She was really strong, much stronger than one would think when seeing her lithe body. He didn't know why she was so nervous down here, and he would definitely not ask her either. He mostly spent his time talking with the other officers, watching Erishnak play, or stare hatefully at Poshnak whenever he caught sight of him.

The two-day journey went on without accidents. On the last day they made camp and rested in the cavern just inside the opening.

"Wooow, look at this!"

Erishnak had strayed some meters away from the camp, exploring the cavern where they had made camp in the light of the torches. Now he returned, holding a huge mushroom in his hands. At first, it seemed like any normal fungus, but as Erishnak placed himself between it and the torchlight, it began to glow with a cold, icy blue light.

"Nice. Never seen anything like it," Gothmog said as Erishnak brought the mushroom back to him.

"Looks like an undead," one of the soldiers remarked.

"Yeah, right! An undead mushroom," Pradish said, laughing. "Ye think it wanders around eatin' other mushrooms' brains as well?" All the soldiers around the fire laughed.

"Come to think of it," another of the soldiers said silently when the laughter had died down, "it looks a bit like Záhovar's eyes." He quickly turned his head in Záhovar's direction, hoping that she didn't hear him. But she did not move, still sitting on the rock at the darker end of the cavern. Gothmog followed the other orc's gaze. It was difficult to spot her in the darkness, still enshrouded in the black mist as she was. Only her blue eyes could be seen in the darkness. He shook his head slightly and turned back towards the warm fire.

After some hours they began preparing for the last part of the journey. Erishnak was all over the place, jumping around in exitement, all the while carrying the glowing mushroom under his arm. Poshnak appeared from nowhere while Gothmog was helping Erishnak putting his armour on, and whispered some words into Gothmog's ear. Erishnak did not hear the words, but seconds after, Gothmog and Poshnak was fighting again. Erishnak stared for some moments, then he ran to find Záhovar. He found her close to the gate, along with the Nazgûl.

"Záhovar!! Záhovar!" he called. Záhovar looked at him and nodded. She bowed to the wraith and came up to him.

"Th-they're fighting-"

"I know. They've probably woken up every creature within hearing range down in the caverns."

"Why do they always fight?" he asked her as they went towards the sound. She only gave him an enigmatic glance. "You don't want to know. Not yet."

"I will not break this fight again," Záhovar shouted as they reached the area before the gate. "You," she said and pointed at Gothmog's soldiers, "and you," she pointed at Poshnak's troop, "You will tear those two apart."

When the soldiers did as she commanded, Záhovar sat down upon a stone.

"Will I be like that when I become an adult?" Erishnak asked her.

"Let's hope not." The soldiers pulled up Gothmog and Poshnak and dropped them in front of her.

"Now then," Záhovar said as she eyed them both. "As I told you two before, I have had more than enough of this. Poshnak, if you do think that I have lost eyesight in the darkness, think again!"

Poshnak sat up. "You're disqualified because Gothmog is your friend! You always pick on me, never on him!" A weak smile appeared on his thin lips. "Why would he care if his lad becomes a boyfucker or not? It won't change his personality y'know."

"Shut up," Gothmog hissed.

"Be quiet," Záhovar said. "By the way, I thought you might want to know, your precious Praktâsh can count himself as one of my followers now."

Poshnak's ears drooped. "Praktâsh? Has he..? Is he..?"

"No, but he has befriended my attendant."

"Damn."

"Literally."

Since Orcs have black blood, it would be natural that their faces turn black instead of red when they blush. Moria