The Other Ranger [ Lord Of The Rings x Silmarillion ]

Walking into Mordor

When she came to, Míril had a horrible headache. Her mind pulsed with pain as if she had been drinking too much the night before. With an inaudible groan, she opened her eyes and saw a fire before her. All around her was darkness except for the burning wood before her. Her head was in Elrohir's lap and he stroked her hair absentmindedly. His brother and Maglor lay back across from them reclining against the rock. Bill the Pony lay on the ground, eating an apple.

"What happened?" she murmured, trying and failing to sit up. "I can't seem to recall."

Everyone stirred at her question. Elrohir stopped his movements for a moment before continuing.

"You don't remember anything?" Maglor asked her from across the fire.

"No, I..." she trailed off as memories flooded back to her. "Oh. Now I do."

Elrohir grimaced. "What do you remember?"

"My brother spoke to me," she said sadly. "He called to me! And then someone restrained me. And..."

She paused and they all waited to see what she would say. Míril glared.

"And then someone knocked me out!"

"That would be me," Elrohir frowned. "Mir we had to. You were trying to kill Maglor!"

"As soon as I picked you up you started struggling," Maglor explained. "We managed to wrest your sword from you but you had a few knives as well which you kept trying to reach. When it was clear you weren't going to be talked down, your husband knocked you out."

"Well that explains the headache," she muttered, sitting up. "My apologies. I don't know what came over me."

"Evil sorcery," Elladan told her. "Dark magic left over from the Nazgûl and from Sauron."

She nodded. "I assume we are under the Mountains of Shadow?"

"Indeed," Elrohir nodded. "We reckon about half way through the tunnel. We had Bill carry you for several hours here."

"I'm glad we made it this far in despite my... episode." She was still rather shaken up.

Elrohir could tell but knew she wouldn't want to talk about it. She never spoke of her brother much to anyone. He knew that while Halbarad had lived, the two of them would light candles specially for Eldir on his birth and death days. She had only brought up the day of his death once or twice with Elrohir, and even then it had been very traumatic for her to speak about.

He wondered if not only had she yet to recover from her father's death, but also from her brother's death. Elrohir remembered how shaken Aragorn and Halbarad had been the day Eldir died. The wholecamp had been shaken. But from what he could tell, Míril had never fully processed her grief, for either of her kin.

"Is there a plan then?" Míril asked after a moment of staring into the fire. "When do we continue on?"

"Whenever you have eaten and feel well enough to keep moving," Maglor replied. "Here. Some bread and cheese."

She took the offered meal and ate it quickly. Elrohir and Elladan meanwhile relit the torches and Maglor got Bill packed up. Finally they snuffed the fire out as Míril stood, her meal finished.

"Shall we?" she said as Elladan handed her back her sword and a torch.

They all nodded and started off. Maglor and Elrohir went in front followed by Míril leading Bill while Elladan brought up the rear.

They walked for hours upon hours. Fortunately it was a single tunnel with no branching passageways except the for the occasional side room where orcs would gather to eat, or swords and shields were stored.

Míril was glad they had packed lots of torches because by the time they rested again, their torches were burning low. They ate a small snack sized meal and continued on the slow march under the Mountains of Shadow.

It reminded Míril a bit of Moria, a place she had no desire to experience again. Fortunately there were significantly less enemies here. In fact, the company had yet to run into a single orc.

They matched in silence for the majority of the day and as day bled into night which bled into the next morning, Míril was beginning to wonder if they'd ever get out. Fortunately her prayers were answered within the hour.

"I see light," Elrohir said with a grin. "Looks to be about ten in the morning, based on the position of the sun."

They had stepped out into a rocky landscape. It was mostly grey from volcanic eruptions, but the once black cloud that had hung over the land was gone. With Orodruin inactive and Sauron gone, the sky was bright.

But it was still oddly cold for the south of Middle Earth. A chill was in the air.

"Welcome to Mordor," Elladan murmured as they stepped forward, marching onwards through the volcanic pebbles that crunched beneath their feet.

"We are heading south east from here," Elrohir said, taking out their small map and looking at it closely. "Follow the road we are on until we meet a larger one. Then we follow that road until a junction, at which we will turn south."

"Lets keep moving then," Maglor nodded.

Míril walked beside Bill and patted him on the neck. He had been such a good pony so far and she really appreciated his obedience.

All around her, signs of the former enemy occupation were visible. Old slaughter house could be seen to the right of their road. Warg pens were to the left. She was very glad indeed that Aragorn had sent in part of the Gondorian army to clean up the place of stragglers and survivors. Otherwise this trip would've been a lot more difficult.

As it was, the going was tough only insofar as the volcanic ash and dust was being kicked into the air, causing Míril at least to have occasional coughing fits, and the desolation was depressing to look at. Other than that, the trek was not too bad.