Lord Of Night - Part Two

by Writing Shop 12

The vampire of Dol Guldur has finally found his place in middle earth. He has his mate, his children, his lands, and plenty of friends. But how will he react when dark forces rise in Mordor and the fate of the world he has grown to cherish is suddenly put in peril? Read and find out.

4. Chapter 4 - Off To Moria

Standard Disclaimer: I own nothing in regards to Harry Potter or the Lord of the Rings. All properties therein are those of their creators. I am only a writer working on my skills with worlds and characters that I love.

Note: Apologies for the wait on this one. I've recently been on a bit of a Final Fantasy 16 binge and that, paired with my summer courses, has been taking up a lot of my time.

Chapter Four - Off To Moria

Boromir found himself in a weird place mentally as he woke from sleep once more. It was the fifth day of their journey and just as all days before he wanted to speak to the entrancing Selene, yet in the days prior she'd nearly been attached to her father at the hip. It was a strange thing to experience for one such as he, the constant urge to be around the strange woman. Honestly, women as a whole had never held that great a draw for him. It wasn't that he was not fond or appreciative of the fairer sex, but more so that he was entirely focused on his duty and service to his country and people and thus had no time to consider romance. Now, though, things felt different, as if his priorities had taken a serious one eighty without his conscious input.

As a captain in the army of Gondor he was well used to waking early and now as he rose from slumber he could see that the sun was only just rising over the horizon. The hobbits were still slumbering easily, as was the spider-woman (he believed she called her race the driders), and Gandalf, Aragorn, and Thorin Oakenshield were off by a small fire sharing a smoke. Finally, his eyes took in the solitary form of the object of his desire sitting alone on a far rock at the edge of camp, keeping an eye out for trouble. Well, he didn't see the Overlord anywhere, and her mother was likely ranging the countryside, so there was no time like the present to have an informative word or two with her.

Moving slowly so that his chainmail would not rustle too badly and wake the others, he tiptoed across the ground before reaching grass and then smoothly crossed the distance to sit at the strange woman's side. Once more he marveled at the uniqueness he could see in her. Skin tanned as bronze, hair silver as a star, beautifully pointed ears that were slightly shorter than an elfs, and eyes that glowed like rubies. He could safely guess that there was not another woman in the breadth of the continent like her. And then there were her adornments. Selene had opted to wear what appeared to be a set of hunting leathers like her mother's, except hers were all black and seemed made of a heavier and more durable material; and at her waist was a truly odd item. When she'd pledged her whip to the cause the man of Gondor hadn't known what to think about it, now he'd been made fully aware. It seemed her weapon of choice was a whip that seemed to be made of segmented sections of razor sharp metal. He'd seen her practice with it along their journey and, well, if the absolutely destroyed tree branches were anything to go by he definitely didn't want to get on her bad side.

Suddenly he found himself broken from his unassuming mental observation by her sweet voice speaking, "Are you gonna actually talk to me or just keep staring until the sun finishes rising?"

Actually blushing a bit at being caught out, Boromir defended, "A-Apologies, milady, I was… just…" He groaned, "Forgive me?" He found himself remarkably relieved when the woman chuckled with mirth at how tongue tied he was getting. But why was he like this? He'd have to ask Faramir when he eventually returned to Gondor. His younger brother was always better with women than he.

"You have nothing to be forgiven for. I kind of… like that you look at me."

"Truly?"

"Yes." Now it was Selene's turn to blush. "I had meant to talk to you sooner but other things got in the way. I needed to explain things to my father so he wouldn't try to kill you, or worse, test your 'worth'." she said the last word with heavily sarcastic finger quotes.

The human was quite confused by that comment. "Why would he have reason to do either? Have I offended him somehow?" The last thing he wanted to do was anger such a monster. He shuddered to think of the devastation the man could bring against Gondor if he were truly motivated.

"No." Selene shook her head. "It was nothing that you did, more so it's what you are."

"And what is that?"

Instead of answering, Selene looked up at the steadily fading stars and asked, "How much do you know about elves?"

"A decent amount, I'd say." The human said warily. "I've served as a diplomat to Rivendell several times now so I've had more interactions with their kind than most."

"And do you know why there are so few of them in this world now? Surely the question must have crossed your mind at least once. If they live so long, then why aren't they more populous?"

"It has seemed strange to me, I'll admit, but it always seemed rude to ask." Boromir answered.

The hybrid nodded at that. "It would have been, and you'd likely be expelled from Rivendell for the pain such a query would cause. But now it's just us, so I'll tell you. Elves can't just procreate on a whim, or near as easily as humans. No random partner will work. Instead, they must seek out their One. The one mate that is perfect for them. Or a soulmate if you want to use a different term. Only together can children come, and when one of the mated couple is lost… the other often follows soon after, as spending eternity alone is… a level of pain beyond any other. Lord Elrond almost fell to ruin when he lost his One, but he stuck around for his daughter."

Selene paused then and took a deep breath before continuing. "My father and mother mated upon their first meeting."

"Truly? That seems rather sudden." Boromir couldn't comprehend making such a commitment so early.

"You're thinking like a human." The silver haired beauty explained. "You imagine a relationship taking months of courting and supervised excursions. That is not how it works for elves… or for whatever my brother and I are apparently. You see, elves know their mates when they make physical contact. They… experience something from each other. Memories, feelings, or impressions of who their partner is on a deep personal level."

The captain of Gondor sucked in a deep breath as he remembered what had happened to him in the Rivendell library just after he'd first met Selene. "Narsil!"

"Yes." Selene's voice had lost all of its former joviality, and now had turned utterly and completely nervous. Vulnerable. "You're so strong, Boromir." The nerves were slowly being replaced by awe. "That is what I saw when I touched you. Strength, loyalty, honor, and so much more." Finally her gaze turned to meet his own, and the human found himself growing lost within her eyes. "More than that though, I felt your humanity." A hand rose and pressed against his chest. "You're so human that it almost hurts to look at you. You feel things so deeply, and love unequivocally. The regard you hold for your brother and your city is beautiful."

Gulping gently, Boromir said, "When I touched you, I experienced color, as if I'd been blind all my life and you were the light. I saw your valor, your strength," his lips curved slightly, "and I saw your mischief as well. Oh yes, you are devious aren't you?"

"When I have to be." The two shared a nervous laugh and Boromir's hand rose to cover the one she still held to his chest.

"I think I understand now." He spoke slowly, giving her time to counter him should he be wrong. "You're my One?"

"And you are mine." She finished. "It's not an easy thing to accept, I know. It's why I didn't bring it up sooner. It's also why I couldn't accept you going on this quest without me."

"It's not that crazy actually." Boromir shocked her with an easy smile. It seemed now that this was all out in the open, all of the worry and stress that had plagued him had disappeared. "I've been trying to figure out what had changed within me for several days now, and finally it makes sense. I won't say that this won't take some getting used to, but I am not in any way opposed." Slowly raising his free hand, he offered the woman every chance to move away before placing it on her cheek. She didn't budge an inch. "I also saw how you see me when we touched. And it was… I want to be that man. For you, for Gondor, for this world. I want to be what you saw in that vision."

Their tender moment was broken suddenly by a loud screeching sound from above, and as they stared skyword they beheld a massive shadow looping amongst the growing dawn light before soaring down to hover above the fire Gandalf and Thorin were making use of and landing with a light whoosh of dust. In moments the pair were on their feet and running over, making it just in time to see an absolutely enormous raven just before it began to collapse in on itself and morph back into the tall form of Harry Potter.

"Did you know he could do that?" Boromir asked softly.

"Yeah, it's one of his favorite tricks." Selene answered in the same tone before speaking louder, "Dad, what the hell?"

"Huh?" The vampire placed his wide brimmed hat on his head, turned, and saw that his daughter was standing rather close to the human. "Selene, what have I told you about playing with your food?"

"Not the time, dad. He knows you're messing with him now. So what were you doing?"

"Had that talk then? Good. Boromir, I won't say welcome to the family yet, but for my daughter's sake I won't kill you either. Treat her well and we won't have any issues." When the human nodded he explained loud enough for all gathered to hear; Tauriel too had miraculously returned from scouting as well by that point without anyone noticing, as if her mate's presence had called her forth. "My lovely Tauriel had a thought last night that was so simple I'm annoyed the rest of us didn't consider it. That being, why don't we just try to fly Frodo straight to Mount Doom? Gandalf is on good terms with the great eagles, but they could potentially be corrupted rather easily and the risk is too great that they might drop our favorite hobbit from a great height to steal the shiny object."

"That is a stereotype, Harry." Gandalf complained, "I'll have you know that the eagles don't covet shiny things like other birds. Their intelligence is above such things."

"Does or does not Thorondor, the lord of the eagles, have a shiny rock collection?"

Gandalf raised a finger and let it down. "It's more a hobby than a collection."

"My point stands." Harry declared smugly. "Anyway, since I'm resistant to the ring but can't carry it myself, Tauriel had the idea that I might carry Frodo while in either my draconic form or one of my other winged animals. I just came back from scouting the skies of Mordor to see if that was a possibility."

"And?" Tauriel asked.

"Well, Luna says the lava pits are a great place to build a winter home."

"Harry…"

"Fine." The wizard groaned. "Last time I try to lighten the mood, damn. Anyway, that plan is a bust. I have good news, bad news, and epic news. The good news is that the Nine are no longer chasing after us. The bad news is that all nine of them are currently patrolling the skies of Mordor on fellbeasts. I'd need to fight all of them at once if I flew in, and while that might be doable, doing it while protecting Frodo is more questionable. It seems the skies are out."

Thorin raised a hand then, "What is the 'epic' news?"

Harry brightened at once. "After seeing the fellbeasts, I can now do this!" And so saying his body expanded out at a rapid pace and morphed into an enormous black and green fellbeast with twin rows of razor sharp teeth. After giving them all a moment to gaze on in shock he morphed back and burst out laughing. "You should see your faces!"

He shut up right quick when Tauriel head-chopped him. "Bad Harry. No pranks on a quest."

"But Taurielllllll-"

"No buts."

"Not even yours?"

She grinned, "Well, maybe mine."

"And with that I'm out." Selene spun on her heel and took her leave with Boromir rushing to keep up with her.

With her gone, the parents sat down with the others and Harry pulled out his own pipe. "So what's the plan now?"

Gandalf lit the bowl for him and answered, "Well, we can continue on this path for forty days North and try to sneak into Mordor via the valley floor."

"Such a path is sure to be rife with spies." Aragorn noted.

"Aye," Thorin agreed. "Perhaps we might instead take the route of Moria, and search out Balin." The former prince added, "His disappearance weighs heavy on me and on the King Beneath The Mountain. None of his scouts have returned."

Harry blinked at that. "Balin found a way into Moria?"

Instead of answering verbally, Thorin puffed on his pipe and pointed to the other wizard in the group. Gandalf dutifully explained, "The door to the mountain was discovered about forty years ago. I knew of it myself quite well, but after several centuries of filling my head with other knowledge it took a while to dredge up the exact spot to pass on to interested parties. However, I would not take the path of Moria unless I had no other choice. I have a bad feeling about it and I've well learned to trust my instincts."

"The same instincts that had you firing a lightning bolt into my chest the first time you saw me in the Shire?" Harry asked sarcastically.

"That was one time!"

"The trolls?"

"Friendly fire."

"Naturally." Harry shot back playfully.

"Um, excuse me?" Frodo it seemed had awoken and was now making his way to the group. "Could we not portkey to Lothlorien and then go on from there? It would save us several weeks would it not?"

"That was our first idea as well back in Rivendell." Gandalf explained to the halfling. "Yet Lady Galadriel said no. The ring is of great temptation to her specifically and she desired time to place more protections around her mind, people, and kingdom before we arrive. The sheer number of them were to take a couple of weeks and by then we would have already walked most of the way regardless."

"So we press on with your path." Harry agreed with his contemporary. "But if it proves wrong then we must use Moria. The only other path takes us through the mountains and this time of year the cold would kill the humans and hobbits faster than even our enemy's blades."

Gandalf said nothing, though he had in fact been considering the mountains as a secondary path. In hindsight, they were a rather dangerous idea. "Very well."

The group broke off then to begin making breakfast, and as they were doing so Boromir took note of a strange sight in the sky. "Excuse me," he called across the campsite to get the others' attention. "Isn't that an odd sort of cloud?" And indeed it was, for the thing was dark amongst a sea of blue and white, constantly changing shape and, most importantly, moving against the wind.

"That's no cloud." Aragorn reached him first, a hand raised to shield his eyes as he gazed upward. It's…" His eyes grew wide and he shouted at Harry in particular, "Crebain from Dunland!"

"Shit!" Harry called back, quickly looking around. The signs of their passage were too clear to remove in time. "Shit!" he repeated. Red veins bulged beneath his skin and in seconds he'd sprouted wings, talons, scales, and a tail before sending up a cloud of dust as he shot vertically into the air and flew off toward the swarm of black birds. Secrecy was shot at this point and all that remained was to make sure that whoever they were reporting to couldn't see where they went next.

As the wind screamed past his aerodynamic frame he flapped his wings harder to rise above the now retreating avians and then dived down to plummet straight at their center, his open jaw already leaking flammable gas as he did. By the time he finally reached them he had a veritable cloud following in his wake, and with a sparking snap of his jaw when he passed through their center he lit it. The Crebain died screaming as they burned, and while their smoking bodies crashed to earth, the wizard landed with a bit more grace before absorbing his draconic form back beneath his skin.

When he got back to the camp it was to see the hobbits packed back up and the horses loaded. It seemed Gandalf had mustered them all into high gear in his absence. "The birds are dealt with."

"That is well." Gandalf leaned on his staff, as was his way when deep in thought. "I suppose we do not need to guess who sent them? Or who was likely looking through their eyes?"

"No." Aragorn agreed as he loosed and tightened his fingers over the hilt of his sword in his own version of a nervous tick. "No doubt Saruman is watching every open pass into the shadow lands of Mordor. That leaves us with an issue of what to do next. He has to know we are here."

"Yes, but that was an even bet anyway. There are only so many ways to get into Mordor." Harry noted as he made eye contact with Tauriel, who nodded tightly. Their plan was a secret one, but one they both understood was necessary. There was one path available that only they knew, and it was better kept that way. They didn't think anyone in the company would betray them willingly, but the ring was an ever corrupting element, and the enemy had ways of making people talk if they were ever captured.

"Gandalf, we talked about this."

"Yes, we did." The older man didn't like it, but his younger cohort was right… as he tended to be an annoying amount of the time. "Follow me then, and I will show you the way."

"Where are we going?" Aragorn asked.

"Moria." Harry said before turning and shouting back down the line, "We're going to Moria!"

"About bloody time!" Thorin called back as he settled on Carmilla's back. The drider liked having him close. Theirs was a strange dynamic, but the others were just happy to see them happy.

From astride his horse next to Selene, Boromir asked, "Why not make for the gap of Rohan and then down to my city? It is the closest point to Mordor that is civilized and we could make from there to the mountain range and straight through to the Black Gate."

The wizards shook their heads as one. Though Gandalf was the one who spoke. "If we go to Gondor we are sure to be stopped by your father. The eyes of the White Tower see far, and I do not doubt he'll try to take the ring for Gondor if we enter his domain."

"He wouldn't-" Boromir stopped and looked guiltily at Selene. He was a little too used to defending his father and he knew it. "They… might be right. My father was quite insistent that I acquire the ring at the Council Meeting. But I am sure his interests would not be for evil."

"No." Selene agreed before taking his hand to offer comfort. "He would take it for the noble desire of protecting Gondor, but he is a man like any other. The ring would corrupt his ideal and soon enough he would end up using it to cause Gondor's destruction instead. The ring cannot be controlled."

"Yes, you have all made that abundantly clear." Boromir sighed. "Alright, let us be off then."

Gandalf led them hence on a two day trail off of their original path into the mountain range, though luckily this path kept them closer to the ground where it was warm rather than up high where he originally wanted to take them. Vast peaks covered in snow and wind.

They passed beneath several naturally formed tunnels in the rock, bored through by stream water over thousands of years, before finally reaching what appeared to be a natural glen and lake hidden in what seemed like a random cliff face yet with a clear view to the sky.

"Ah the ingenuity of dwarves." Gandalf complimented as he signaled everyone to dismount. "This space was carved, planted, and cultivated so expertly that only eyes like mine that have seen the rise and fall of countless lives can tell where their enchanted picks met rock. It took me four centuries to actually find this place if you would believe it, yet when I saw it I knew it for what it was at once."

"It does not look like much to me." Carmilla noted as she started climbing the side of the wall, looking for any of those telltale pick marks the old man had spoken of. "Yes the lake is pretty enough to look at, but I do not see any doors."

"You wouldn't, Carmilla." Thorin said from her arachnid arched back. "Dwarven doors are concealed by magic and only visible under very strict circumstances." Looking down at Gandalf he said, "I'm guessing you know the right circumstances?"

"Indeed." The wizard walked up to a spot beside a fallen tree that served as a good makeshift bench and placed the head of his staff on the cliff face before raising his free hand to the sky. "It is only visible with both starlight and moonlight." As he spoke the clouds above receded at a rate that could only be caused by magic, and both required elements shone down, illuminating the frame of a glowing doorway with cursive elvish script circling the top of the frame.

"What does it say?" Sam wanted to know. He'd been busy unloading Pip the pony but at the first sign of magic his attention had understandably wandered.

"Well it's a password." Gandalf explained simply. "It says to speak friend and enter. Ergo if you are a friend you'll know the password and the door shall open." The aged wizard then began to pelt out elvish phrase after elvish phrase.

"Ah, Gandalf, what are you doing?" Harry wanted to know. "You do know the password right?"

"But of course, my friend. However, I have so many passwords saved into my memory from one exchange or another, that I find myself unable to recall exactly which one is for this particular door. Do not fret. By the process of elimination I must surely express it at some point."

"Hm." Harry thought about it for a moment before turning to his second favorite hobbit in the world. "Say, Frodo, this sounds like a puzzle to me. What do you think?" His adopted nephew was a master of riddles and puzzles as he well knew.

Frodo thought it over for a moment and rubbed his chin as he did until a metaphorical lightbulb seemed to go off over his head. "It's a riddle not a password request! Speak friend and enter? What's the elvish word for friend?"

Gandalf, whose staff was still making contact with the wall, answered, "Mellon."

At once a loud rumbling sounded in the air and Carmilla had to jump back to the ground to avoid falling as the stone beneath her legs began to tremble and shift. Before their eyes a thin line opened up in the center of the glowing door that climbed up into the stone itself as a wide entry portal came into being before them.

Unfortunately, that same rumbling seemed to wake something else up too as behind them came a massive deluge of water and concussive force as a massive tentacle shot out of the lake and sent them all careening inside before they could react. Harry and Aragorn had the quickest reaction time and so they got to their feet first with swords drawn and thus they were the first to witness eight tentacles latched onto the newly opened doorway as an absolutely gigantic octopus monster used it as leverage to pull itself free of the lake to move after its prey. At once Aragorn sheathed his sword and drew a bow that he began rapid firing with and Harry started casting off cutting curses at the appendages.

Both had the desired effect, though not in the way they had wanted. The arrows hit several soft and vulnerable points in the creature's center mass, creating an enormous screech of pain that had most of the party covering their ears. However, that pain forced the tentacles to become taught with stress, so when the cutting curses hit, instead of cutting straight through, they only partially severed the limbs, enraging the beast and causing it to double its efforts to pull itself after them; no longer only wanting a meal, but revenge as well. That renewed effort proved immensely problematic, as the old doors, far from well maintained, ripped free of their hinges, and splintered down under their own weight.

As Harry summoned a shield around the party, and the entryway they'd collapsed in, vast stones and mountainous debris collapsed all around them, burying both the creature and their way out in tons of rock. The immediate exit had just been effectively blocked. That provided only one way left to go… forward.

"Alright," Harry ordered, "Sound off, who's not dead?"

One by one everyone voiced the fact that they were, in fact, alive, and Harry and Gandalf performed some lighting spells so they could actually see. It was then that everyone found themselves subjected to the sight of over a hundred dead dwarf and goblin bodies filling the entirety of the stairs ahead of them. "Well," Harry noted, "shit."