Note: Hello readers! In this chapter, you will see more connections to the actual world of LOTR with of course my own twists. I hope you are enjoying the fic so far and I would love to hear your opinions, thoughts, and suggestions about it so please review it. And if I make any mistakes regarding the actual LOTR material, please tell me! After all, I am only human xxx
Chapter 3: Sauron's Return
"To kill your mother?" Vallion's voice was faint, yet stern. He was shocked at the news I just presented to him and was determined to figure out more. "How?"
"Someone plunged it into her chest in the night when I was six years of age" I answered back in a stronger voice than I thought I was capable of. Whenever I talk about my mother's murder or anything that involved it I get very reserved and I shut down. I have come to terms with accepting that my mother is dead, however, my emotional state about the situation will never be that way.
"Did you see what the yielder of the dagger was Aldis?" Vallion asked.
"No. They must have run off before I emerged from my room to find my mother bleeding to death." I said looking at the ground. "King Vallion, what is this really about? Why is this dagger so important? And what does it have to do with the lurking evil you fear?"
I was sick of beating around the bush. I wanted solid answers from him and not more questions about things I do not even know where to find answers from.
He breathed a deep sigh before he opened his mouth to speak.
"Aldis, do you ever recall hearing about someone named Sauron?" Oddly the king whispered the name. As if by some kind of unexplainable control, my mind's inner functions began to work, like inner gears of a clock, and weaved through memories until one fit into the conversation that the king and I were having.
"Mommy mommy! Story time story time!"
"Yes my child, I am coming"
She climbed into bed with her tiny daughter and held her in her arms, like the sky holds the moon. Her daughters warm body melted into hers, creating the warmest of embraces. "Hmmm, what shall it be tonight? Oh! I know! Long ago, when wizards, dragons and great evil roamed this land, a young hobbit named Frodo Baggins set out on a journey. Of course, Frodo wasn't alone on his quest. He was accompanied by Merry, Pippin and Sam, his closest allies in the shire, where he lived. His uncle Bilbo was the closest to him, however, this journey did not involve him, for it couldn't. You see, Bilbo was troubled by something, something so evil that no amount of good could seem to overcome it. Now, my darling, this is where the story gets complicated. Everything that happens to Frodo, Merry, Pippin, Sam and most importantly Bilbo started with Sauron…."
The memory hit me as if my body was shot back into the past to relive it. My mother had told me the story of Sauron, the great evil that once threatened middle-earth. When I first heard the story, I was disturbed and also very young, no more than 5. Why would this dagger be connected to Sauron? And intern, to my mother's death?
"Yes, I know about Sauron and the ring of power. One ring to rule them all, correct?"
"Yes, that's right.
"What about him? If I recall from my mother's stories correctly, Sauron was destroyed by Arathorn, the king."
"He was, briefly, that it. He returned years later to wreak havoc on middle-earth once more. To regain what he once lost: his ring, and the power that it gave him. Did your mother not tell you in her storied what Frodo's true mission was?" The King's question bothered me. It was as if he was insulting my mother, on accident of course, but still and insulting comment.
"Just that he was to destroy the ring of power."
"Yes. Because of Sauron's return." I was now more confused than ever. Not about Frodo's mission, but, what this all has to do with me.
"With all due respect your highness, can I be enlightened to what this has to do with me?"
"Yesterday evening, late within the night, I saw something. A man on a black horse, bearing the symbol of the Dark Ryders" What?
Fear crept into me. "Here? In the kingdom?"
"No, a little ways away from here. I went out on a stroll, just to get some air, you know. And that's when I saw him. The horse was speeding away from the kingdom, like it was running to escape from it. In that moment, all that was running through my head was that I knew you had one of their daggers. And so did the Ryder. That could be the only explanation to why he was so near the kingdom."
"The Dark Ryders want my dagger that killed my mother back? Why? Haven't they already used it to take a life that should have been kept?"
"Oh no my dear. The Ryder's protect their weapons very carefully. They do not want any soul knowing they exist. Or in this case, still exist. They are under the rule of Sauron, they are his assassins. And If I saw one yesterday, that means he has returned."
"If they want to keep themselves hidden, then why would they leave the dagger protruding out of my mother's chest and just run off? A careless mistake like that could cost them."
"Yes. That's why they came here yesterday in secret. And, if I am thinking correctly, they have been hunting you ever since the dagger was left accidently in your possession." Well, wasn't that ironic. They have been hunting me, while this entire time I have been trying to hunt them. Why would they make it so easy, yet, here I am thinking it is impossible to find my mother's killer.
"You say they are under the control of Sauron. So that means he's the core reason my mother is dead?" Fierce anger swept over me. After all these years of wondering why my mother paid someone with her life and not knowing who it was, finally small answers come to me. And the greatest evil of all time that only two people have defeated is responsible for her death.
M.J.R.
But it wasn't just Sauron. I reached behind me and felt it under my dress. The dagger. I learned to keep it on me, and not have another mishap like the one with the king years ago happen. I took the dagger from its hiding spot and showed it to the king. Who knew such a small, simple object could cause so much.
"Who is M.J.R.?" I asked him, pointing to the initials engraved into the dagger.
"That my dear, is one of many questions that I cannot answer for you."