"I don't believe it… Elf! Your sense of direction is worse than a blind Orks! How did you manage to get us from the Icebay of Forochel into the Misty Mountains?!" Legolas shot the Dwarf an annoyed look, bet deeper inside a worry was stirring… there was no way, not from where they had been. Perhaps it was no accident that they were here, at least it seemed not. After all, a full day retracing their steps had only succeeded in bringing them deeper into the hills…
"The fault is not mine Gimli… something wills us closer, I feel it…" The dwarf gave a huff. "…Wills us closer he says… smurgafrackashrehmmph…" A twig snapped, instantly the bow and arrow were raised and notched. Gimli raised an eyebrow, "A tad tight-strung are we?" Legolas moved closer to the bush, fingers twitching. Gimli frowned, drawing his ax and following close behind. Rarely was when the elf got serious- and there was no immediate threat. Silent, the two moved into the clearing only to freeze in something akin to shock. A form lay lank, crumpled on the ground, unmoving on its side and shrouded from their view by its light torn robes… Legolas lowered the arrow and moved forward, then froze for a moment; swiftly he whirled backwards, raising the bow back to readiness. "Go no closer Gimli! Something is wrong here!"
"When I said you were tight-strung perhaps I understated, breath Elf! I see no danger here!" Legolas shook his head, "Go no closer! That is no friend of ours, but feels like some of the enemies we have fought before!" Gimli snorted, "no shock there, I can see his face from here. It's just an easterling Elf, and one getting on in his years at that." Legolas moved so that he shared Gimli's view.
…Indur!! Where is Ji Indur?!
A pain… sharp and piercing, skewering him as nothing ever had, the pain of being ripped free…
…Khamul… Indur… where are you… where are you…
…They are gone! …faded from us!!
…Come back… come back… you cannot leave us here…
…The dark… so dark…
(My brethren… I hear you… but the pain, oh such a pain…) weakly, eyes opened on the surrounding soft turf. Sunlight streamed threw the bows of the trees above him and he gave a hiss at the unwelcome yet blessed brightness. How, how had he escaped from the dark? (I must think… I am a strategist, I understand how things are done, how they are carried out… I was not the lieutenant of Mordor for my ring! I did nothing to escape, nothing that my fellow wraiths had not done… yet they remain… I feel they remain, and I am free…)
"Well, you were right, we have seen him before, but lords, shouldn't he be properly dead by now?!" Instantly awareness smacked into him, voices! Enemy voices nearby! He reached, slowly so not to have the action noticed, grasping for the hilt…
Nothing! Where is the blade! An arrow pierced the edge of his robe, and quickly Khamul drew away from it, only to see the cloth pass around the shaft like flowing water. What sorcery is this then? … Shoot again archer… and it will be the last bow you draw…
Legolas also regarded the cloth with surprise, but his eyes hid it quickly, another arrow already notched. "Move again Ringwraith, and that will be the last threat you utter." The hands holding the bow wavered, those eyes! The brown was not a brown he had seen before, to bright, to clear! Eyes like that were not something a man was born with, they were warped over time, brightened by overindulgence in the field of Mage magic.
The two glared each other down, Gimli content to stand back and watch this odd display. Slowly, Khamul rose to his feet. Another arrow whizzed threw the air, passing without harm threw the creature's throat. A scream of retaliation rent the air, and Khamul lunged forward with bare hands, tackling the elf and forcing the two of them back to the ground.
Fool!! I Warned Thou!! golug shadûr!! Legolas winced, of all species on middle earth, few were as repulsed by the dark tongue as Elves, the very sound of it sickened him, and that smell, like rotting lilies… oh gods! Panicking Legolas trashed and punched his way free, drawing away from the wraith with terror in his heart. (The Black Breath! How could I have forgotten! I know the dangers of a wraith!! None are fool enough to fight one in such close combat! Yet there he was, breathing on me!!) In the manner of a venomous snake who knows its poison is potent Khamul drew away, eyes flashing with an inner mirth and triumph. Gimli had placed himself between them now, looking a tad lost at how to fight something that his ax couldn't split. "You alright elf? Elf? " Legolas paled quickly, feeling the ice drip into the pit of his stomach, too fast, the poison is moving too fast…
"Gimli! Fly from here! Tell the others of this!" The Dwarf froze, the thought process that had hit his companion now reaching him. "Legolas!" Swiftly he moved to the others side, easing the weakening Elf onto the ground. "Go you dark creature! You foul load of Ork filth! Flee from here fast! Or by the great dwarven kings I'll split you!!" Khamul laughed, a grating shrieking sound that sent shudders down the Dwarfs spine. Suddenly the wraith veered away, falling into a gray heap on the ground. Pained hissing came from the twitching form, and Gimli seized the opportunity and raised his ax high…
…Khamul… where are you…
…The light is gone… the night has come…
Bring them to us my liegeman, bring to us the door!
Translation:
golug shadûr: Deaf Elf