Fourteen: Fire and Steel

The logistics of moving several hundred drakes across Middle-earth was a nightmare. Talion could not send them south directly, or with Horza who had no bond with any of them and therefore could not explain why they had to take certain precautions in a way they could understand. He also could not leave them on the Withered Heath, because if the dwarves or Men or both came north to ensure that nothing remained of the Dark Powers and their influence, or to claim the lands for themselves…

The Ringwraith made sure all of their eggs were collected and carefully stowed. Fortunately it was very late in the season, so most of them had already hatched, little drakelings tumbling over rocks and play-fighting with their nestmates, snapping their tiny jaws at strangers. Then, with the drakelings clinging to their parents' backs, they all went south to hunt in Eryn Lasgalen again before turning west into the Misty Mountains. They flew by night, as they had going north, and as high as they could bear to hide the thunder of their wings and the cloud of their bodies blotting out the stars.

Talion and Daerwen flew ahead to scout and reached the Dimrill Dale shortly after dawn. The great drake alighted on one of the peaks ringing the valley and swept the land below and around for any movement while the Ringwraith searched the Unseen World, but there was no sign of anyone but them. They descended into the vale proper then, and called the other drakes after them, the mass settling around the Mirrormere.

Horza grimaced at the sight of the lake. "'S not natural," he grumbled, peering hesitantly at the surface as he dipped his waterskin in. "What kind of lake doesn't have a reflection in it?"

"The dwarves say that Durin, the first dwarf to awaken after the creation of Elves and Men, saw his reflection in it with a crown of seven stars, and no one else will until he is reborn," Talion said, approaching to look into the water as well. As before, he had no reflection as well, and neither did Daerwen or any of the drakes. "There's no need to worry about it. It's not going to kill us."

"If you say so." The Orc still sounded dubious.

They settled to wait out the day. Talion could have proceeded into the depths of Moria alone, especially now that Durin's Bane was dead, but the drakes were tired from the long flight and he wanted to load them up with as much mithril as they could carry. Mordor needed the wealth, and since they were there, there was no reason to not take advantage.

The wraith kept watch during the day, hood pulled low but the Unseen World clear to his eyes regardless. There was movement just inside the doors of Moria, increasing as the day went on and the shadows lengthened again. It seemed that the Orcs and cave goblins within had noticed them and were planning an attack at sundown, based on the numbers and weapons involved.

The Ringwraith sighed quietly but heavily. He had no wish to start a new Age with a slaughter, but it seemed the squatters in Moria did not share the sentiment - or remember all the other times before when he had cleaved a path through them to mine mithril before cutting another path back out. If anything, they had become even less intelligent, because who in their right mind would challenge a Ringwraith backed by hundreds of fire drakes?

Sweetheart.

Daerwen stirred and yawned widely before blinking at him, gold eyes still hazy with sleep. Mmrr?

We'll have company soon. Ready yourself.

She pretended to wake fully, lifting her head and yawning again with exaggeration, before seeming to swing her head to get the cricks out of her long neck. She spotted the Moria Orcs and goblins inside the door but pretended she had not, and got up to pad through the small army of drakes to the Mirrormere. The rest of the drakes stirred as well but remained where they were, waiting, after Talion touched their minds. He suspected that the goblins would strike after full dark, unaware that their night vision was nothing compared to the drakes'. Same with their weapons, their armor, their everything.

If even a single adult drake was killed in the fighting, Talion would be extremely surprised.

Sure enough, the sun sank behind the Misty Mountains and the stars came out, and the goblins and Orcs began creeping out of the Moria Gate soon after. They climbed the slopes of the Dimrill Dale and encircled the mass of drakes, unaware that their would-be victims were very aware of them, and that all their numbers would not avail them. They were far from quiet also, their feet loud even on the thick grass and their armor and weapons clanking and clattering in the dark.

When they at last settled and prepared to strike, Talion gave the drakes a wordless command, and they boiled up like the mound of hell-raising winged serpents they were, raining fire on some of the Orcs, snatching up others and devouring them, throwing still more into the lake to drown. Daerwen herself streaked over to the gate, slamming down in front of it and scattering the goblins before spitting a vast stream of flame into the dwarf-halls beyond.

Talion exchanged glances with Horza, then the two of them left the drakes to it. It was not long at all before the Orcs and goblins scattered to the four winds, fleeing into the hills or braving Daerwen's fire to return to Moria instead. Silence fell, save for the crackling of the flames and the fading cries of those in flight. After several long minutes, the wraith rose and swept out an arm, unleashing the power of his Ring and sucking away the heat and life of the flames, pouring it into the void inside him. Then he went around to the drakes, checking them over and murmuring quiet praise at their speed, strength, cleverness, ferocity. Even the little ones had participated, ganging up on some of the smaller foes.

When he had assured himself that they were all uninjured, he led the way into Moria. Many of the drakes were upset about going underground, away from the sky where they could escape if something attacked, but they followed Talion loyally down into the deeps. While the necromancer and the Orc and an army of shades unearthed the mithril, the drakes pursued the remaining squatters into dark holes in the mines, eating or incinerating all the Orcs and goblins they found. When they were full, they made their way back to Talion, calling to each other through the tunnels and moving in groups to ensure no one got lost, as the wraith had instructed.

The Ringwraith looked them over again in the dark mines; even without the dancing light of their fire, it seemed as bright as daylight to him. None of them were injured; if anything, their hearty meals seemed to have done them quite a bit of good compared to scavenging in the far north. They were sluggish and sleepy after, and he set up a watch rotation, enforced by Daerwen, to keep the surviving goblins from sneaking up on them again.

They stayed five days in the depths of Moria, mining mithril around the clock with an army of spirits that Talion called back, rigging up harnesses and satchels, chests, and cases to carry all of the metal back to Mordor. Some of the drakes refused to be beasts of burden, so the wraith assigned them to guard and hunt for the others instead, both sitting watch on Moria Gate and roving as scouts around the makeshift nest in the once-glorious dwarvenhome.

On the third day, a hissing drake came to get him and led the way up to the Gate and out around the Mirrormere to look east and south.

Far off in the distance, a procession of Elves was departing Lothlórien under the noontime sun. Talion dropped to the ground and peered through the grass, the drake flattening itself next to him.

Lady Galadriel was at the head of the procession, glorious in gold and white under the light of Anar. Her closest attendants were maidservants, all with blonde hair glittering in the light, but if Eltariel was among them, the wraith could not see, did not recognize her. They were headed south towards the Limlight River, though where they would go from there he could not say. Perhaps further south to the Gap of Rohan, where they could turn west to their Grey Havens.

Talion watched them go in silence, until even the vaguest outline of them vanished beyond the horizon, and then returned to the mines.

Once they crossed into Mordor, the wraith allowed the drakes to fly lower and more leisurely as they made their way south to Núrn, and to range further afield to hunt. Wild game became more frequent as they left the desolation of Gorgoroth behind, but Talion noticed that without the Dark Lord to keep it a blighted, blasted land of fire and dust, the north became warm under Anar's light and wet with runoff from Seregost and storms sweeping up from Núrn. The vibrant green and gold of the south was slowly but steadily crawling north, fanning out between Graveshadow and Coldharbour and overtaking the devastation the Dark Lord and the War of the Ring had left behind.

Perhaps one day even Mordor would forget Sauron and his evil.

They arrived at Sharkhburz to find that the Architect and his team had finished building a town around the fort. It fanned out in all manner of residential and industrial districts, with open spaces for the drakes close to the fortress as well as within the walls.

When the cloud of drakes drew near enough to be heard and spotted, shouts and cheers erupted from the town residents. There were people relaxing on what Talion named the drake lawns (since actual paddocks and corrals were no good for flying beasts), but they hurriedly scattered, allowing them to come in for a landing. Daewen's paws had barely made contact with the grass when Horza jumped down and bellowed for help unharnessing all the drakes, moving the mithril to the treasury and Celebrimbor's barrows. The treasuries at Sharkhburz and orcish cities elsewhere were not as extensive nor as well protected as the one in Coldharbour, Talion's domain, but the wealth of Mordor needed to be where the people were. When the mines of Tamon Angren were open once more, they could relocate again.

Once they were unloaded, the wraith dismissed most of the drakes, leaving them free to scatter across Mordor. They would make it harder to maintain livestock, it was true, but the Feral Tribe could repel the younger ones and the Warmonger Tribe was always ready and eager to fight them. But Mordor needed drakes in the wild; they could go places caragors could not, hunt the great beasts of the land and keep their numbers at a reasonable level. Otherwise the animals would multiply without end and devour all the grass and grain they could reach, and starve everything in range - including themselves.

Those drakes who remained behind had been harness-broken before Talion's fall, two of them Daerwen's half-siblings from other clutches. There were fourteen in total, and the wraith sent out messengers looking for surviving members of the Nártelumë Corps to partner with them. "Fire-Sky," Talion muttered to himself as he swung down from Daerwen's back. "Can't deny that it's appropriate, but I can't remember who suggested that name."

You did, Adar. The drake swung her head around and rubbed her cheek against his own. Swinsere was the one who suggested using the Elf-words though. Thought it sounded nicer.

It does sound nicer, doesn't it.

The Elf in question soon emerged from the fortress and inspected the drakes, then nodded. "I'll ask around, see if anyone can find harnesses still in storage. I don't think Sauron destroyed them all, but we had to abandon them after the drakes left."

"No sense holding onto dead weight," Talion agreed, gently pushing Daerwen's head away and waving her off to hunt. She rumbled deep in her chest, then leaped into the sky with the others following behind, swooping out over the Sea of Núrnen to fish. "What happened while I was gone?"

"Not much," Maglor answered, leading him inside. "More people have joined up, Men and Orcs alike, and a few dwarves who went east when you fell have sent messages to say they intend to return as swiftly as they're able. Oh, and apparently everyone's decided that now that the city is finished, we're going to celebrate the official end of the war."

Talion just shook his head with a smile and waved them on.