The Morgul Vale was not empty.
There was a massive creature, red as blood, lying curled up by the side of the Morgul Road at the foot of the Stairs of Cirith Ungol. It looked something like the dragons from Bilbo's stories, only smaller, but even so it was big enough to dwarf the hobbits and Gollum together.
It also didn't seem to be affected by the magic of the elven cloaks. It spotted them quickly and lifted its head, staring right at them with fiery gold eyes. The creature watched them approach on the road but otherwise didn't move, ignoring Gollum's quiet hisses of "nasty, tricksy Ranger's flying beast, still following him around! Yes, yes, fell into darkness he did, Precious, yes, years ago but still she follows! Gollum, gollum!"
He spat at it - her, and that she did not ignore. Her head snapped around fast as lightning, a snarl curling her lips off serrated fangs. Gollum yelped and scampered away to hide behind a boulder, peering over the top with eyes wide with fright.
Frodo and Sam passed more respectfully, keeping their eyes lowered, and the drake left them alone. "Sméagol," Frodo asked softly as they circled the creature to the stair behind her, "You know this one?"
"Know her? Yes, Master, yes - the Dreadful Woman." Gollum came out from behind the boulder and gave them a nasty grin. "Tricksy Ranger used to ride her, yes, years ago - before he Fell, and joined the Nine."
The hobbits inhaled sharply.
"Now he doesn't ride her anymore, no, no, rides horses and Fellbeastses and serves the Eye, but still she follows him wherever he goes." He eyed the drake. "If she is here, nasty Ranger can't be far. Must hurry, Master!" He scurried up the stairs ahead of the hobbits.
Frodo and Sam darted after him and scrambled up the first few dozen stairs, all of them perilously steep - when the ground rolled unexpectedly under them. Frodo slipped from the stairs, but it was Sam who got the worst of it: Frodo knocked him loose as well and landed half on top of him, even as his pack and cloak were pinned in place by heavy debris that fell with them.
"Hobbitses!" Gollum yelped and scrambled back down to help them, "Must hurry, hobbitses! Mustn't linger! - Oh no!"
The glow of Minas Morgul flared in response to some unheard command, sickly green energy spiraling skyward with the howl of high winds, and a Fellbeast climbed up out of the city to cling to the outer wall, one of the Nine on its back. The beast roared, the sound echoing through the valley, and the city gates began to creak open.
The hobbits panicked - but then deeper darkness descended. The Ranger's drake had moved to lie further back from the road, now level with them, and had covered them with one great red wing.
An army of Uruks left the city, and Frodo used the cover of the noise to free Sam, straining to move the rocks off his pack and cloak. Then both hobbits wrapped themselves tight in their cloaks and peered out from under the wing.
Row after row of Uruks marched past in a seemingly endless column, carrying banners and armor and weapons for war. The hobbits and drake watched them pass - until one of the orcs threw something heavy at the Dreadful Woman. It struck her jaw, hard enough that her head jerked to one side, and she snarled even worse than before, preparing to rise even as her fire flared in her chest.
The scream of a Nazgûl stopped her. A Fellbeast plunged out of the darkness and snatched the orc up in its claws, then ripped the creature to shreds. The remains fell in chunks into the Morgulduin even as the Ringwraith on its back screamed again, so full of wrath that the hobbits were paralyzed by fear.
He brought his Fellbeast down to land not far from the drake. He was different than the others, they saw. Though he too wore black, it was not long robes like the others; instead he wore plate armor, dark and fell, with a hooded mantle over it, its edges tattered and torn. His sword was different as well, belted together with a dagger over his back rather than at his waist.
The Fellbeast on the city walls took flight and swooped overhead so its Nazgûl could scream angrily at his fellow. The armored Nazgûl nearly ripped his sword from its sheath and shrieked at the other, just as wrathful as before, and the Dreadful Woman hissed in tandem, rolling into a growl so deep that Frodo felt it vibrate in his chest.
The other Ringwraith seemed to think better of retaliating for a single orc and guided his Fellbeast away, but the armored Nazgûl did not relax until he was a speck in the distance and the last of the orcs had scurried past. Only then did he resheathe his sword and look to the drake.
But then he tensed, and the hobbits heard sniffing under the dark hood. They shuddered and held each other tight even as Gollum hissed, "Nasty, tricksy Ranger."
He fell silent when the Nazgûl swung down from the saddle, the Fellbeast shying away from the drake a little. Yet the Ranger walked over to them without fear and slowly circled the drake, sniffing intently and sometimes hissing softly.
Though it was already heavy, the Ring grew heavier still around Frodo's neck, as if it was being pulled toward the Nazgûl by some unseen force. He drew his cloak up to cover his mouth, to muffle his frightened panting as the Nazgûl stopped in front of them.
The Ranger was close, so close that it seemed like Frodo only needed to reach out a hand to touch his armored boots. Yet the hobbit stayed where he was, sweating and shaking, even as the Dreadful Woman's head snaked around.
She scented the wraith, who tilted his unseen head up to look at her. Then she exhaled on him, nostrils flaring, and leaned forward to nuzzle him, a low purr starting deep in her chest. Slowly, jerkily, like he didn't know what he was doing, the Ranger lifted a hand to touch her head - just a light press of armored fingers against her jaw, unexpectedly soft and gentle.
The Dreadful Woman's purring increased in volume.
At last, the drake pulled back and nudged the Ringwraith toward the Fellbeast. He took a few steps, then stopped and looked back at her. She nudged him again, and at last he went. He mounted up and looked back one last time, then took flight and winged away after the orcs and the other wraith.
When he was gone, the drake got up, stretched, and watched Gollum and the hobbits resume their climb. After a few minutes, she too took to the air and flew after the Ranger.
"I wonder what happened to him," Frodo said later, after everything, "The Ranger. Do you think he perished with the others?"
"I don't rightly know, Mr. Frodo," Sam answered, "but I almost hope he didn't. The way Gollum spoke'a him makes me think he mighta been a good man before everything. An' if he did die - well, I hope he got to see the sun again, before the end." He tilted his head back to bask in the warm rays. "After all that dark and cold, there's nothing quite like it."
Meanwhile, in Mordor:
"TALION! GET SOME REST!"
"I CAN SLEEP WHEN I'M DEAD, IDRIL!"
"YOU'RE GONNA BE DEAD IN A SECOND!"