Prologue

The chase was on! Through the maze-like, damp alleyways of Minas Tirith, a man ran like mad for his life, under the light of the moon. What he had done was unthinkable for most and now the price for doing it was about to be collected. Unless he could reach the city guards barracks!

He was aware of the small chance he had of doing so, after all he was being chased by the finest assassins and rogues of Gondor. Giving up, however, was not an option, he was aware of that, so he ran and he kept running as fast as he could, his muscles almost bursting with the inhuman effort, advancing through the city, not really sure if he was going on the right direction or just going in circles.

Sensing the pursuers closer by the minute, he ran into a large square and, at last! he saw his destination right on the other side of the square. For a second he stood there, speaking a prayer to Manwë, Lord of the Winds, and feeling the long lost hope crawling back to his heart again, for he was about to finish a task of extreme importance. That hesitation proved to be his doom, though, because when he was about to start his run again, an arrow pierced through his right leg, and the force of the impact brought him down to his knees.

He gasped in desperation and without thinking he started to run again, adrenaline pumping the last drops of energy into the spy's veins. But alas, he didn't get far, as another two arrows landed on his shoulder, the impact making him fall to the ground. He coughed up some blood and cried for help in frustration, but his voice faded into the night and he soon found himself surrounded by his pursuers.

Making a circle around him the men stood still, their silver cloaks flowing with the soft night's breeze, simply staring at him. Like a wild animal facing certain death the wounded spy tried to get up and defend himself, determined to sell his life at a high cost. But he could not. While he fought himself to stand up, one of the men broke the circle and walked slowly towards him, apparently smiling.

"Now now!" the cloaked man said with a cold, and high pitched voice. "Give me the honour of satisfying my curiosity… Did you seriously think you would escape? You were quite a chase. I must admit it was fun, to a certain point. But as all good things do, this game has reached the end."

The hunted man only barely managed to raise his head and look right in the face of the speaker, and although he could not see the face hidden under to silver hood, the man looked straight to where he supposed the eyes were, determined to accept death with dignity. But death didn't come to his rescue… instead he felt a blow to his head and all went black.

Somewhere in the White City a tall man stood still looking through a window, staring at the clear dawn sky, his blond hair glowing with the early sun. He had been there ever since he and his men got back from a quick jog they had, by chasing some stupid spy. The blond man chuckled. The idea of someone thinking they could escape him was quite sincerely amusing. In his mind there was a small amount of concern though. If this spy managed to get close to them, other might also make it. None would escape nevertheless, he thought to himself confidently, but he had to find if that brainless spy had leaked any information, and if so they had to do something about it. He dwelled his thoughts until he was brought back to reality when someone knocked at the door.

"Come in." He said calmly, as he turned to the door. The man who opened the door was also tall, but smaller than the blonde one and with a stronger constitution. He was bald, and the only trace of facial hair on his round face was a small goatee.

"He woke up." The bald man said, standing at the door. "Klaria wants you to question him, Sergo."

Sergo smiled softly. "Sure Gurdaw. I'll be right there." Torturing prisoners was always fun, specially the King's lackeys. Sergo didn't know why, but he had a special pleasure doing it. He thought it was the screams and cries of pain and despair the prisoners let go. It was almost orgasmic!

The other man, Gurdaw, watched Sergo for some moments, as his face light up with excitement and then nodded. "I'll be with Klaria. We'll be waiting for your news."

"Sure thing. It shouldn't take long… sadly." He said with a sadistic smirk on his face. Sergo stood on the same place for some moments after Gurdaw's departure and exited his room. He walked through the corridors of an old house with haste, making his way to the room where the spy was being questioned. When he got there, the spy was sitting in the middle of a room, his arms and legs tightly bound by strong rope. With him was a short man with a sickly, sadistic look, his clothes dirty with blood. He was standing beside a work table, covered with torturing instruments and some of them were in his hands. On the opposite side of the room there was a small fireplace with a small fire burning. Sergo stared at both of them from the door, with a pleased look. "Has he talked yet?"

"No, he's been acting strong so far." The sickly looking man answered, toying with a bloody small knife. "But he just woke up a while ago, he won't last much longer."

Sergon nodded. "I agree. I'll take the lead from now on. You can go."

"But… I…"

"Go! Klaria's orders!" Sergo growled with his high pitched voice, shaking the short man. He nodded quickly and after putting down his instruments he exited the room quickly. It would be insane to make Sergo angry at him, and he could not even begin to imagine what would happen to him if he disobeyed the Boss's orders.

Sergo waited for the other man to exit the room and walked to the work table, grabbing a long and really thin metal rod and made his way to the opposite side of the room, using the fire to heat up the metal rod. When the rod began to turn red he took it out of the fire and turned to the tied down spy.

"Well Sartur, seems like the time to crack you open has come. Oh, don't be afraid, it will be fun, I promise!" He finished the sentence with a sadistic, high pitch laughter that froze Sartur blood. Sergo walked to the gondorian spy and a second later a scream could be heard throughout the whole house… And it was a really big house.