A/N: Yay! Chapter two! Woot! What's going to happen next, eh? Valo seems to know more about what's going on in the war than even he knows. :D Sounds promising! So, love to all of you reviewers and hope you enjoy it!

Disclaimer: Nope!

~~~~~Chapter Twelve~~~ Turning of the Tide

Valo tilted his head to the side. Lady? His eyes widened and a blush spread across his face at the realization that the Rider thought HE was a lady. He was never going to live this down…The Dwarf stood stoically in the face of their new adversary, leaning on his battle axe as if he didn't believe the horsemen to be a threat. Valo had to admire his nerve, he thought with an inward smile. That was until the Dwarf sent him a mischievous smirk. Oh great.

"Give me your real name, Horsemaster, and I shall give you mine." Gimli said calmly, and perhaps somewhat rudely for the look Aragorn gave him.

The Rider disembarked, his expression one of profound annoyance and offense. He glared down the Dwarf harshly.

"I would cut off your head, Dwarf, it stood but a little higher from the ground." He spat before his eyes flicked to Valo and softened somewhat, "Are you in any danger, my lady? Are these men hurting you?"

Valo's face was as red as a tomato. He was so embarrassed he thought he would surely be swallowed up by the earth itself. He stepped between Gimli and the Horseman, an apologetic smile on his face.

"Please, let us not argue, friends. I am perfectly safe, Master Rider and despite your…confusion over my sex, I thank you gratefully for you concern over my welfare." Valo gave him a shy, embarrassed smile.

Aragorn stepped up beside his charge, placing a grateful hand on his shoulder. The Rider looked taken aback and rather embarrassed himself though he recovered quickly. The Ranger could understand why. Despite how hard it was to NOT like Valo, he had the security of his lands to worry about first and foremost.

" I am Aragorn, son of Arathorn, this is my ward, Valo, Gimli son of Gloin, and Legolas of the woodland realm. We are friends of Rohan, and of Théoden your King."

The Rider sighed, his whole demeanor seeming to change, folding from the cold warrior to a despondant, though no less filled with anger, man. He pulled his helmet off and Valo could see the recognition in his companion's eyes.

"Théoden no longer recognizes friend from even his own kin. Saruman has poisoned the mind of the King and claimed lordship over his lands. My company are those loyal to Rohan, and for that we are banished." The Rider leader looked among them, once again seemingly suspicious, "The white wizard is cunning. He walks here and there they say, as an old man, hooded and cloaked, and everywhere his spies slip past our nets."

Gimli gave the man a rather nasty sneer. Valo shot him a look that plainly said 'Keep your mouth shut!'. He felt Legolas's hand touch his back gently and immediately, reassurance flooded his being. Valo held in a secret smile. What would he do without Legolas? His smile fell shortly. What was he going to do without Legolas…? Aragorn had picked back up the conversation to reassure the Rohirrim of their good intentions.

"We are no spies. We track a party of Uruk-Hai westward across the plain. They have taken two of our friends captive." The Ranger said, almost pleading the Rider's to give him the information they so badly needed.

Valo looked desperately up at the man who had so recently confused him for a woman.

"Have you seen them? Please, have you seen my friends?" He begged, earning only sad soft eyes in return.

He almost knew the answer before the Rider said it.

"The Uruks are destroyed. We slaughtered them in the night." The man said calmly though his voice was regretful if only for the distressed teen before him.

His companions stepped in to push them more, anxiously seeking the news they need, that one piece of information to give them hope enough to continue.

"But there were two hobbits. Did you see two hobbits with them?"

"They would be small. Only children to your eyes."

Only children…Children should never be made to fight in wars. Children were meant to be treasured and loved and protected. So why did he feel as if he had never experienced such a thing? Did his Master raise him? Was he created at his current age so he lacked a childhood and therefore lacked any childhood memories? Would he ever know…?

"We left none alive. We piled the carcasses and burned them."

None alive…Carcasses. It was so much easier for them to think of them as bodies and not as actually people they had destroyed. Actual lives they had halted forever. Valo felt bile raise up in his throat. None alive…Merry and Pippin…They couldn't be. No. Not them. They were too sweet and innocent. Too loving. They hadn't done anything wrong…They hadn't done anything wrong! He could feel a scream bubbling up in his throat, boiling with the intensity of ever death and violence and heartache that he had felt since this journey had begun. Maybe he was never meant to come on this quest at all…He wasn't meant for this sort of thing. He wasn't created for big things like this. For saving-people things. He was merely a tool of his Master's conquest, an extension of the Dark Lord's will. He would never be his own person. Too much of himself had been sold away and he didn't even know why. He didn't catch the Rohirrim's goodbye, only the heavy din of their riding away broke him from his reverie. They had been left two horses and Valo mounted his branch idly, wishing for the warm embrace of his beloved desperately though he couldn't bring himself to ask. He had no right to accept Legolas's affections. He was a monster…

Valo desperately did not want to approach the burn pile but despite it all he did. Merry and Pippin had suffered this death and the least he could do was look. If it weren't for him they may have made it…The sky was beautiful and blue but nothing could distract from the rank smell of burned flesh and blood soaked soil. Valo wasn't sure why these horrifying smells were so familiar to him. An image of a red headed female laying lifeless and unseeing in the dirt, her throat opened like a crimson mouth grinning at the heavens filled his mind. The sight made his breath stutter and he brutally shoved the image away, terrified and disgusted by it's imagery. Why did these things keep coming to him?! Were they figments of his imagination? Were they memories? Were they somehow his Master's thoughts? Had his Master done something to his mind to punish him from afar? Gimli shuffled through the pile with his axe, pulling something sickeningly familiar from the wreckage.

"It's one of their wee belts…" He whispered.

Aragorn released a scream of despair that rocked him to his core, kicking a helmet in his rage. Valo could empathize with his helplessness. They'd been too late. Legolas was praying in Elvish. How many deaths was he going to have to witness until the Fellowship failed? Until his Master had him in his clutches again? Who would be next? Gimli? Aragorn? Legolas…? He'd wandered off alone around the pile, his mind too stunned to even muster tears correctly. His companions were shuffling around on the other side, Aragorn probably tracing the tracks from the battle- no, the massacre- that had happened here just last night. Every few seconds, he would come across some small sight that stirred something in his mind. A whisp of smoke from a charred body. The way the light reflected on a bloody weapon. The stench of decay. The lifeless eyes staring back at him. Yellow blank orc eyes turned to dead black ones, bleeding blue, scared silver-grey. What was happening to him? Maybe…maybe it was time he returned to Barad-dur. If only for answers. If he was true to himself, he never belonged here anyways. Pretending he was a normal human…it was almost obscene. That voice in his mind hissed low.

'Of course you're not normal. You're the Dark Consort, meant to rule at the Dark Lord's side during his ascension to power. Do you think they will want you once they know what you are? Your Master knows the darkest, innermost part of you. He holds complete acceptance of what you are. He wants you still, you ungrateful child. He offers you everything and asks only your devotion in return.'

Valo heaved a dry sob, fighting against the voice's reasoning.

"But it's no more than a cage…What's the point of complete acceptance and offering me all, if I spend Age after Age under his sleep curse?"

The voice sneered.

'Remember, child, to take heed of what await's the sin of greed.' It chuckled darkly.

A sudden poem rose in his mind like a soft smooth tide. He couldn't resist saying it out loud, tasting the words on his tongue.

"Enter stranger but take heed of what awaits the sin of greed. For those who take but do not earn, must pay dearly in their turn." He whispered, frowning in confusion.

It was an intriguing poem really and very true. It sounded like it would be on the doors of the Dwarrodelf or a…

"Or a vault…"

Valo's eyes widened. A vault? It sounded…right. But where would there be a vault? He supposed Sauron probably had a few and no doubt the Kings of Men would have one for valuables and heirlooms and things. But where had he seen it? For surely it must be on one of them. Hm. Aragorn could probably tell him. Or Legolas. Should he discuss his thoughts and strange images with them? The sudden commotion of his comrades caught him back to reality and he rushed to join them, casting his thoughts off for a less harried time.

"The tracks lead away from the battle!" Aragorn said, stopping at the edge of the large, impending tree line, "Into Fangorn Forest…"

~ o ~

The Witch King of Angmar soared over the plains of Dunland by night, searching as ever fir the missing Key. The Fell Beast he rode gave a shriek that could be heard for miles around. Where was he?! Where was his Consort?! The other Nazgul had flown to the east to search the mountain passes to search for the One Ring. Orange flaming eyes looked out of his servants body furiously. His Consort would soon be overcome by the visions and the pull of the dark. He would come to him, but would it be before it was too late? Would one of his enemies catch hold of him? He shrieked in rage. He wanted results! He would have his Key back if it meant he had to burn every village, every wood, and every plain in Middle Earth to find him, down to the last small creature!! A fierce snarl could be heard by no one but the empty sky. Perhaps it was time to have a little reencounter with his little Consort. Oh yes. Past time indeed. Sauron left his servant, leaving only pain behind to signal his displeasure at their results.

~ o ~

R&R PLEASE!