Welcome back Dear Readers. I am so terribly sorry it has taken so long for the next portion of Natasha McGowan's saga. But here it is. The Stranger: Part II. I hope you enjoy.

Book Two

Chapter 1

The walls of the cavern tunnels glistened moistly in the flickering light of the single flaming torch carried by an older man dressed in flowing red robes\ his back hunches as he ducked the low ceilings. Excavated long ago, by some unknown, long forgotten race, the White Wizard had discovered the caverns upon taking up residence in Orthanc, and his Red Apprentice had been set the task of exploring them, shortly after being taken under wing. So long was the Apprentice exploring, that he soon forgot his true name, becoming ever more the Red Apprentice. The caverns became his home, his skin growing pale from lack of sunlight, his figure bony with age.

The Red Apprentice had established his living quarters in the far back of the tunnels, the only place left to him after the Master had claimed the ones closer to the surface for his experiments. This was fine with the Apprentice as the light tended to hurt his eyes, and soon the world would be covered with darkness anyway, so the Dark Lord and his Master told him, so he could wait to walk on the surface.

That the Master didn't venture this far down the caverns was a bonus, given his preoccupation with the caverns closer to the surface. It kept his eyes away from the 'little side endeavors' his Apprentice took up. As long as the Apprentice did his chores, and came when he was called, that's all the Master cared about. Perhaps if the Master had taken a little more interest in his Apprentice's goings on, he'd have realized just how talented his pupil was. Just how powerful his pupil could make him. But he hadn't and the Apprentice had a 'little side Endeavour' that was going to make him a very powerful, very immortal man.

The set of caverns the Apprentice came to were lavishly decorated with the softest rugs covering the hard stone floor, tables and chairs covered in books and a large four poster bed that had yet to be used properly. 'Soon,' he told his aching body. 'Soon, that will change.' At one end of the room, an elaborate fire place, its roaring fire warming the room, while on the other, his large clawed throne faced his scrying pool. Glittering and gleaming with its own ethereal light, he had seen many things in this pool, many that had made his life and his plans finally, the books. Books and scrolls in every language covered every available surface in his quarters, some even the White Wizard didn't know were in existence. These had taught him the lessons he'd needed to know to get where he was. To successfully hide what he had become from his preoccupied, though shrewd Master.

Taking a moment as he always did, the Red Apprentice shed his guise. In his place, the Red Sorcerer, one whom few people had ever met, none lived to tell of such a meeting, stood in his place. Tall and devilishly handsome, the very beginnings of grey appearing on his temples, giving him a distinct dignified quality to his stature. While his skin was still pale and his hands still bony, his figure was now lithe and muscled, his robes filled out to reveal the body of a healthy man in his early forties. His laughter rang throughout the caverns. Laughter at having once more fooled the old Istari for one more day.

In answer to his dark merriment, roars of anguish and anger, and that clatter of chains reverberated from the cavern beneath this one, where he held his captives. One could journey down to said cavern by way of the stair off to the side, or simply look down upon any occupants within through a small alcove at the far back of it. This last he moved to, leaning against the wall, his arms folded across his chest, as he grinned with malicious delight down at his captives.

He'd captured them twenty of them, one by one, and brought them here, always avoiding detection. Magnificent they had been in their freedom, now brought low by his magicks and confined by his Craft. Now they simply lay imprisoned as he waited for the moment to make the most use of their Power, to make it his own, and live forever, ruling by the Dark Lord's side.

"Struggle all you wish." he called down cheerfully. "Those chains are made from the bones of the ones who came before you. Even you cannot break them."

Roaring in renewed defiance and grief, the dragons strained against their bonds. Many had to have died to create the number of chains that held them. Many friends and family that had been hoped to be free and in the Undying Lands, now despairing of who had not made it safely to that Realm.

His eyes gleaming with greed, the Red Sorcerer surveyed his captives. The Dark Lord would be pleased when he was presented with this gift. The attempts at copying these magnificent creatures had only brought about the pathetic creatures the Nazgul rode now near the lands of Gondor and Rohan. There was nothing to compare.

Chuckling darkly in delight, the Red Sorcerer settled himself in front of his scrying pool. It was time to check in on another of his projects, one he hadn't felt the need to until now, as he thought of the reason for his capturing of these creatures. His body ached, reminding him of the pleasures he had long denied it, demanding that he find the object of his desire and fulfill…something. He had forgotten what, but his body remembered. And so, he gazed into the pool, remembering the first night he had truly seen her touched her for the first time.

Flashback

The Master, all in white stood before the ugly hoard of Uruk-Hai he had created, gazing at each one, carefully gauging their fitness for the mission he had planned for them, their bodies still gleaming with the wetness of their muddy births in the caverns below his stronghold which they had left mere hours before. Too long had he waited to remove this threat to his plans, to his master's plans. Too long had he thought she would remain ignorant, but no. That time had past. His captives had somehow reached out to her, and now she had to be disposed of before she could come into her true power. When he spoke, his clear, deep voice sent shivers even down the spine of true evil ones like the Uruk-Hai, even down the spine of his Red Apprentice, now skulking in the shadows, who had been with him for many long years.

"This woman, you will bring to Arda." the white wizard spoke slowly, waving a hand to reveal a woman of long, red hair that fell in waves down to the middle of her shoulders, her green eyes blazing out at the Uruk Hai. Some shrank back and were immediately reduced to ash, courtesy of the Master's Red Apprentice, they were not worthy of the mission, nor of the promised breeding when they returned triumphant. The Master could not conceive of his mighty creations failing in this enterprise, not when the threat had yet to fully come into the abilities he had witnessed growing within her.

"You will bring her here," the Master continued, barely taking notice of the change, a few less wouldn't matter. "And you will kill her here. Bring her heart to me. I will know if you have failed me."

The Grey One had thought to hide the threat in one of the lesser known worlds, where magic held very little sway, where He could not reach her. But he had found her, and watched her, always putting off the day when he would strike. But now was that day, and as he conjured the portal to send his minions through to do his bidding, he smiled an evil smile, imagining the devastation he would cause to the Grey One, in destroying his last hope in freeing His captives. Through the portal, the Uruk Hai went, not one of them shirking back as the ones before it were consumed by the essence of the gate and then spat out on the other side. The Master did not wait to see if they had all gone through, merely turning and gesturing to his Apprentice.

The Red Apprentice stepped out of the shadows, into the light cast by the Master's staff, falling into step with the one he loved above all else, the one he hated with all his being.

"You have questions." The Master stated, not looking at his Apprentice, simply keeping his eyes focused on the way ahead, maneuvering around the odd tree root that raised itself in his path.

"Yes Master. Why not simply kill the girl where she is? Give her less chance to escape?"

"Because her blood must hit soil here for the Grey One to know of her fate. He must know. He must see that the Dark Lord cannot be beaten, that he must side with us. He will see that there can be no hope in front of the Dark Lord, except to those who join him."

"You will stay here. Ensure that they do as they are told. There is too much freewill in these creatures as yet. A problem I shall fix immediately." the Master ordered and was gone in an instant, leaving the Red Apprentice to stare at the empty space, and then at the shimmering image of the doomed woman.

He stalked around the illusion, imprinting every nuance of her face, every angle of her body. If he concentrated, he could even bring her scent to him and imprint that, but that, he reasoned, would be unnecessary. He knew more about her than even his Master did, having been the one watching her all these years. He was the one who knew how to use her, instead of destroying her, and finally take the old man's place among the Dark Lord's Own.

For it was he who had let the captives their one little bit of freedom, allowing their minds to run free, to contact the only one who could save them, and bring her to him. Oh what he could do once that power was his to command, when she was his to command.

The hours passed slowly, but he did not care. His plans were running through his head, drawn on the ground with a stick and erased just as quickly. Nothing and no one must have an inkling of his plan for it to work. But pass, the hours did, and the Uruk Hai soon tromped into the clearing, bearing their prize with him. The Red Apprentice hid among the trees, watching as they argued. His Master had been right about one thing, this batch of Uruk Hai had too much free will, they couldn't even fulfill a simple set of instructions without their orc blood and tendencies for more violence coming to the fore. But he was patient, was the Red Apprentice. And so he waited. Waited for the right moment, and it came.

The leader of this band raised his weapon and tried to strike the woman, his woman. He raised a shield around her just as it struck, feeling her energies raise to protect her just as his did, hers exploding beyond his shielding, destroying the band and whatever evidence of his betrayal might be had.

"Not bad." the Red Apprentice mused, approaching the unconscious woman, brushing her hair gently back from her face. "You've saved me a lot of work, my dear Natasha. And now just one tiny little thing…"

He placed his thin, bony finger at the base of her throat, where it glowed red briefly and then it was done. Now he would be able to find her where ever she went, no matter how she concealed herself. Turning his attention from her, he focused on the energies of the forest. He could feel the trees murmuring amongst themselves, taking the news of the events in this clearing to whomever would listen, but he did not care. His Master did not bother with trifling things like trees or animals. It was the elves he wanted to hear this news. And to come retrieve his woman, to keep her until he needed her. And then she would be his, as would the world.

His dark laughter filled the clearing as he walked to its edge, tall and proud, every inch of the Wizard he was, letting his old guise fall back into place as he reached the tree line. Saruman would not know that his Apprentice had outgrown him, that the Dark Lord favored him over the old man. Not until the time was right. Not until his woman came to him. He disappeared then, back to the Master's stronghold, to bide his time.

End Flashback

The Red Sorcerer came back to the present, and set his sights on finding her in the now, determined to know where she was in her training, for he had seen the Grey One doing so, delighting that the job he had planned to do was being done for him. Controls were being put in place, and only molding was left to be done. Once she was his, she would be his to make into whatever he pleased, to use however he pleased. Her power would be his for as long as she lived, and with the dragons' 'help' that life would be a long one indeed. Almost, but not quite, giggling in delight, he instructed the pool to show him what he desired.