Hi everyone! This has been a super busy week and I hope y'all enjoy this chapter. The ending might seem like a bit of a dead end, but do not worry this chapter is basically just explaining the time-skip and what happened during it. The next chapter shall be the return of Sauron and Red-eye.
Tar-Mairon and Red-eye seemed to almost completely vanish for the next two years of our time here. Or as close as I can guess two years feels like. Leila and I lost track of the days here very quickly. They came occasionally in the beginning to monitor our healing and write down more notes of who knows what. They even once brought in one of the beautiful captured and mimicked our injuries on them and compared it. I remember the pain etched in his face when they hurt him and how the sadness never left his eyes in any of the times we saw him. We were able to converse just a little before he was completely healed from his injuries. We, however, were still recovering by the time he was healed and that seemed to fascinate Tar-Mairon and Red-eye. Our language has really picked up and we can converse quite well with each other. English still lingers in the back of my mind sometimes, but fear really helped to suppress my desire to use it.
The days really became repetitive. We woke, bathed three times a week, and then always had language lessons. Our teacher explained we were in some place called Angband and this is where the bad spirits, she said the were called "Maiar" lived with their master who is apparently one of their gods or Valas. I once asked what we were in their language and she said she did not know, but thought we might be similar to Edains. I told her in English we were human, but she panicked at my use of English and we moved on. She also told of us other races that existed. The monsters were orcs and some of them used to be like her, Eldar and Elves, but they were corrupted. She did not know if we could be corrupted when I asked.
Leila seemed even more dedicated to picking up the language than I was. I just wanted to talk to our teacher, but Leila told me this was the key to our escape. I don't think she understands there is no escape. Our teacher agreed with me. I remember a fight between Leila and our teacher when she told us she wasn't allowed to tell us her name. Tar-Mairon and Red-eye had ordered her to withhold it from us and she just told her to have us call her mol. It was the word for slave, but Leila and I both refuse to call her that. It was awkward at first to call someone without using a name, but now it's a habit and we just have to lean forward or look like we want to say something and she understands we wish to speak. We were all mildly fearful at that little rebellion of not calling her mol, but there was never any backlash or punishment. Perhaps they did not care.
I asked our teacher why we're here. She says we must have been captured. When I told her we fell into here somehow she just shook her head and said my vocabulary is not up to standard. I asked what why she was in chains and she said all of her people here were in chains. She said they were captured or lost some battle. I'm not sure I really understood what she was trying to tell me, but she made it seem like there were hundreds or even thousands of her people here in chains. She said we were lucky not to be in chains and that there must not be many of us. When I told her it was just Leila and I, she said that's why. Despite all the darkness and violence here, the Maiar here like to have beautiful things or unique things. She said something about a magic rock called a silmaril that their Vala has three of. She basically compared us to a magic set of rocks, but said the rocks were more valuable.
Sometimes she had us practice that bow Tar-Mairon had forced us into and said we would have to know it when they returned. I asked her when they were going to return and she said she did not know, but probably once we could speak. Then she warned us things might get very bad for us if we do not do what they say. She was mindful of our injuries when she first saw us, however, she then said it was nothing and greater suffering would be endured if we were stubborn. I am very apprehensive for that fateful day. I mean they do sometimes, very rarely, come visit, but mostly it is just to check our healing and we were finally almost completely healed the visits stopped. The everyday fear has receded into melancholy, but whenever I see an orc my panic flares up. Fortunately they do not seem to come around this area much except for the two who escort us around and the one who takes the teacher back and forth. I asked her where she stayed, but all she said was far below and refused another word on the topic. Some things are more clear with language and some things are more blurred and confusing than before. We still do not really know where we are.