Loyal to the Light

Now we're ready

A week had now elapsed since Talion and his two uruks had begun recruiting in Seregost. They had found several Captains serviceable enough to join his army and their orcs, uruks and ologs had swollen his ranks in a manner that satisfied Talion very much. Every time he looked at the fortress, taking it seemed more and more to be a feasible possibility. Then came a day when the Ranger decided he had waited long enough. Leaving Hagra and Ronk in charge of the camp where his new army lay in wait, Talion made his way to the fortress to scout it out.

Like Sharkburz, this fortress had two watchtowers on either side of the gate, and on each patrolled a orc, crossbow in hand, eyes squinted out at the snow, which shone even in the moonlight. Talion sprinted to a bush and crouched there, staring through the weave of twigs at the patterns of each guard. He could just make out their hard, brutal expressions, twisted by cold and irritation into a permanent sneer. When their heads turned, Talion dove from the bush and ran to the right to where he could hug the stone cliff wall all the way to the fortress itself. It was there he could scale one of the smaller towers, one unoccupied by guards. Wraith-strength surged through his limbs as the Ranger leapt to grip the bones carved from stone that decorated every side of the structure. Within mere moments, Talion had reached the top and had sprung over the wall onto the tower.

On either side of him, orcs shivered and grumbled about the cold, their voices drifting from their lips in clouds of vapor that disappeared into the darkness. But no one had seen him. Talion silently called his bow and felt it appear in his hands as he aimed at the only guard he could see, and all around him time slowed. His focus sharpened to such a degree everything else was painfully still. Then he let the arrow fly, and the orc gave the softest of grunts as he collapsed to the ground.

The ground was sprinkled with snow, but where the campfires blazed only bare dirt and stone could be seen. Quickly Talion ran along the wall to where a projection closed a little of the distance between himself and a nearby rooftop. He took a running leap and his hands grabbed the edge just in time. From there he pulled himself up onto the roof and began to have a real look at the layout of the fortress.

So far, many of the orcs killed or recruited by Talion had been captains of this very fortress. Three of his new allies were spies here and had promised to join his army as soon as he gave the word. Moved by a sudden impulse, Talion decided to spread a little more chaos. He moved to the edge of the roof and looked out across the ground. What he was looking for soon met his eyes: barrels of grog at varying intervals, several with groups of orcs and ologs gathered around them. A sensation of burning joy flashed through his chest, but Talion knew it was only half his own. He reached into the small pouch at his belt and retrieved three leaves of hithlas, then summoned the bow to his hands. Aiming between the nearly-frozen bodies of the orcs, Talion narrowed his eyes and breathed out slowly. He released the arrow. Straight into the grog it plunged, leaving not a ripple or a drop behind to signal its presence. Talion moved to the next barrel.

It took him a long time, leaping the gaps between roofs and running along ropes stretched from wall to wall, pausing for mere seconds to shoot again and then moving to his next target, before every barrel in the fortress was poisoned. That would whittle down the numbers his recruits would have to face when they attacked in the morning; for now Talion was sure he was ready. He cast one more look around from the rooftop closest to the gate, committing the layout of the streets to memory for when his forces broke through. It would be important to take this fortress as quickly as possible.

There weren't even any footprints left behind when he ran back the way he'd come toward the narrow pass that divided into two directions. Talion sprinted right, towards the outpost above the frozen lake, where his army now lay in wait. He saw one of his uruks standing guard and slipped up a wall past him without being seen, as he often liked to do. Even his own orcs hardly ever saw him coming, which only kept up his reputation among them. Slipping down into the snow, Talion set off at a brisk walk towards the tent where Hagra and Ronk ought to be, as well as his Captains.