Half a ancient oath fulfilled
Of course, with the Witch-King of Angmar being killed in battle, the eight remaining members of the Nazgûl had been forced to realize that maybe they were not invincible.
"What…should we do to avoid a similar fate?"
Personally, Khamûl did not think too much about the fact that the Witch-King had been slain by a mortal enemy of all people. They may be the most feared servants of Sauron in his position as the current Dark Lord, but as the first Dark Lord, Morgoth had proved in the distant past of the First Age, he could still be defeated and they would all fall with him.
"Sometimes the best way of acting is to just accept defeat with dignity instead of looking like a pathetic fool in your last moments."
With that comment, he left the others, knowing that he was their leader now with the Witch-King gone.
Once he was alone, Khamûl checked on his own Ring of Power, one of the Nine given to various mortal men like himself in the past, who had caught the attention of Sauron for being powerful sorcerers and warlords, often in high social positions that ensured that they had a lot of influence already from the moment he gave them those rings to ensnare them under his power.
"...there is a crack in the lapis lazuli stone?"
The crack was very, very faint, barely visible at first look, but something about it felt strange as Khamûl ran the tip of his finger over it.
"Could it be…?" the Ringwraith wondered with some well-hidden confusion over this, "…My oath to not only find the reborn Mara and Tar-Minyatur, but to get revenge on my traitor to half-Nûmenorian son for everything that I lost in Kemet thanks to his actions?"
No, the very idea of it was just foolish. Khamûl knew that he was too deep into the claws of Sauron to ever be redeemed for what he had done over the thousands of years that he had served the Dark Lord. If anything, he would be judged for his crimes and forever face damnation.
"As long as I can get some of my personal goals fulfilled and the souls of my imprisoned family get free to enter the Afterlife, that sort of fate for myself does not matter."
Yes, as long as he did not drag his imprisoned family, his wives and children, with him into the damnation that would take him if Sauron fell, then Khamûl did not care much.
~X~X~X~X~X~X
In Minas Tirith, Oberyn had sought out Suleiman for a more private talk between them.
"The war prisoners who you spared, in order to be used as soldiers in the march against Mordor…my own men overheard them talk about something odd and reported this to me. A temple of some sort?"
Ah, of course. Suleiman had a good guess about what the prisoners may have mentioned.
"It may be the Temple of Shadows, as it is called among the people of Rhûn. A last relic from the era when Kemet existed, under the control of Khamûl. It is the base from where he controls the East on the orders of Sauron, and trying to spy on it to find out whatever secrets it holds…is known to end in death."
Great, Oberyn thought to himself, it sounded just like the sort of place that was screaming for exploration but also involved deadly risks, as Ihsan would say.
"What can you tell me about it?" the younger Martell Prince asked the Sultan, who answered as best as he could:
"It is said to be almost like a miniature of the royal court as Khamûl would have ruled over as a mortal man. Remove the usual courtiers and ambassadors from afar, and instead imagine just a group of priests, slaves and a few Consorts. Literally a piece of ancient history frozen in time, with only the residents that live there who change over the passing of generations? I also have heard whispers that Khamûl likes to collect female slaves who hold some form of magic and that it is those who get the honor of rising in status to become his mortal Consorts?"
That detail clearly caught his interest. Not that Oberyn somehow imagined that Khamûl would manage to bed mortal women as a wraith, much less siring children on them, but collecting women with magic?
"I think…that could be something useful to know for the future, even if we may not be able to make anything out of it."
Seriously, if his guess was right, then Oberyn had a nagging feeling of where the horrible draught in the Westerlands came from, as well, how Sauron had managed to use the volcano on Dragonstone Island to send out the magical lava paths towards various important places in Westeros. How else could they explain how the Eyrie had vanished in a massive explosion, same with Casterly Rock, the ruins of Harrenhal and how literally a whole ¾ of the books and scrolls with knowledge collected from ancient times had been lost in that devastating fire which had destroyed the Great Library in the Citadel?
"Damn, sounds like we need to fix that as well…"
Oberyn was not looking forward to telling his siblings and extended family about this.
"Let me explain this to House Martell and share what I know," Suleiman requested, which Oberyn could not disagree with.
~X~X~X~X~X~X
Rhaenys had no idea of why her grandfather had asked her to come over to the Old Palace, only that Ihsan hoped that it may soothe the part of her soul who once had been Mara.
"I am here, abuelo…?!"
Her movements froze at seeing what was laid out on a table. Her eyes wide, she took in the sight of the magical orbs that held something inside them. Something which felt…alive. And one of those shapes held her whole attention.
"Mother?!" the voice of Mara came out of her mouth, speaking the ancient language of Kemet, "Mother…Nefertari?"
The sound of her personal name made the female soul move slightly inside the orb, like an unborn baby reacting to the voice of a mother.
"...how? Where….?"
It was Quentyn who spoke:
"Abuleo and I managed to free them from Minas Morgul by using my spirit walking. We have not managed to free the souls yet, but we agreed that you should see them."
Taking a sharp breath, Rhaenys allowed her tears to fall freely, as Mara took over her body to rush forwards and hug the orb with the soul of Nerfertari inside.
"I am sorry, Mother….I am so sorry for being away for so long….! I really wanted to open up a portal between the two worlds much sooner, but I could not do it alone…the sheer amount of magical power needed to open a portal was never enough from a single person…!"
And in that moment, inside his guest chamber in Minas Tirith, Oberyn suddenly had a relization about something:
"Do not tell me…?!"
The possible main reason behind Khamûl collecting mortal Consorts with magic. A steady amount of it, refilled by a new Consort taking the place of someone who died.
"It was to open up the portals between the two worlds, long enough to search for Mara as she was in that circle of death and rebirth across the generations until now when she is reborn as Rhaenys?!"
Hell. How many such women and girls were still found there inside the Temple of Shadows, at this very moment? Could they even pose a threat of their own, with Khamûl being in the War? Especially if either the Ringwraith or Sauron himself gave them an order to use their magic?
~X~X~X~X~X~X
Author note: Since none of the other Nazgûl actually witnessed how the Witch-King was slain by Éowyn with some aid from Merry, I think it is safe to say that most of them are a little unnerved at the idea of that they can be killed