The Other Ranger [ Lord Of The Rings x Silmarillion ]

New Foes

It was four days later when they reached the edge of the Mountains of Shadow, the edge of Mordor. Large banners with the symbol of Khand marked the border along the road. Miril saw also that a watchtower had been built and atop it were three men, and below were two.

"Halt!" one of them yelled.

His voice was rough and unlike that of the Western men. His face was dark and his eyes brown. He wore the uniform of the Variags, the warriors of Khand. The travellers stopped and waited for the two men on the ground to approach.

The man who had spoken before continued, his curved scimitar out and in front of him. "Who are you and what are you doing on the Khand Road?"

"We are elves looking to reach Harad. We come from Thaurband seeking refuge," Maglor told him with a bow.

The man who had spoken narrowed his eyes and use his scimitar to lift Maglor's hair and check his ears. Identifying him as elven, the man turned to his companion and they spoke in their strange language.

"Very well," he nodded at last. "We will not turn away refugees from Thaurband. The way to Harad is along this road. It will take you at least twenty days to reach Harad. We advise you to stop at settlements along the way. Caravans may also pass you by on the road."

"Thank you," they said, bowing deeply to them.

The Variag soldiers let them pass by. For many minutes, Miril could feel the gaze of the watchers as they made their way down the road. But at last they left the view of the Mountains.

The days passed by without much difficulty. It grew hotter and hotter as they went more South. Soon enough the road turned East. They encountered small villages of Khand along the way and refilled water and food there.

On the evening of the tenth day from the start of Khand, They saw in front of them a large forested area that the road went through.

"What is that?" Miril asked in amazement. "It does not look like any forest I have seen before."

"A jungle," Maglor told her. "There was one such like it in Valinor."

Elladan and Elrohir were just as amazed and curious as Miril. None of them had seen a jungle before. As they drew closer to the treeline, she began to hear noises of birds and animals of all kinds coming from inside. The trees were huge and had many layers. Vines hung down and the ground was covered in dead and decaying leaves. Only the road was clear of trees.

It was very humid, almost unbearable so. Water seemed to drip from the leaves even without rain. Bugs flew around them, causing Miril to jump when they flew too close. A small animal ran across their path, it's little legs and long nose reminding her of a tiny Mûmakil just without tusks.

As if on cue, a huge, blasting noise was heard ahead of them. A trumpeting and a booming reverberated through the trees. The travellers jumped aside as down the road came a small Mûmakil with a rider on its back and two donkeys behind. Other men and women of Khand walked alongside.

They gave the travellers strange looks but did not stop their walking. Miril saw the women's beautifully colored outfits and gasped. They were gorgeous. She wondered what kind of wares they were selling.

Yet as quickly as the caravan appeared it was gone. Miril, Maglor, Elladan, and Elrohir continued on their way through the jungle. They encountered a few other animals. Some clung and swung between the trees using their tails and arms and legs to balance. Others were like cats but larger. The group had tried very hard to avoid these as they looked rather dangerous.

It took two days to get through the jungle. When they reached the other side, it was viable farmland for about the same distance. Here, homesteads were plentiful and they encountered many of Khand's people.

Miril was struggling to hold on to the hatred she had felt for Southrons. Part of her did not want to let go, but when she saw the playing children and loving mothers, she saw they were people too. Every day she grew a little less bitter and a little more sad.

She had slain husbands, fathers, brothers during the War of the Ring. She was realizing that others felt the way she did at losing her own father.

Maybe they weren't so bad after all.

By the twenty-second day since Mordor, the end of July had gone and the beginning of August had arrived. Miril was now quite obviously pregnant. It did not inhibit her movement as much as she thought it would, but it still made things somewhat difficult. It was on that twenty-second day that they reached the border with Harad.

Being of very pale skin among the brown skinned Southrons caused them to stick out quite obviously. The first few villages they stopped by refused to help them.

Miril's hatred began to be rekindled.

Finally, on the twenty-sixth day since Mordor, a week into August, the group was allowed to stay in a village in the desert.

"Thank you," Maglor nodded to the chief. "My daughter needs rest as she is with child."

The chief nodded. "There is a house that has offered to take you in for the time being."

A woman led the small group to a large house at the edge of the village. Inside were several children of varying ages as well as a woman who must've been a village elder.

"Sit." She nodded to them. "You shall stay here."

They smiled and nodded. The elder woman led them to a side room where she had made cots for them. Bill was housed in the village stable but the companions made sure to bring their belongings inside with them.

Miril heaved a sigh as she finally got to rest. Her feet hurt and she felt like she was lugging around extra baggage. Though with a smile, she supposed she was.

"Can I get you anything, melda?" Elrohir asked her while the other two prepared dinner outside. "Water? A blanket?"

"I just need to rest," she shook her head.

He nodded and brushed her hair out of her face as she lay down.

"Rest easy, love."

Meanwhile, not far from the village, bright lights streaked across the sky and a scream was heard. Something sinister was at work in the area. A darkness creeped through the town as all slept.

Alone outside, a young Haradrim girl sat playing in the sand. She was too full of energy to sleep, and as an orphan she could go where she liked whenever she liked. Unfortunately, she was in way over her head.

For the darkness had a mind, the darkness had a name. Long before the world was formed, the mind of Illuvatar created the Ainur. The Ainur were comprised of the Valar and the Maiar. Ainur could change shape, shift appearances. Some lost this ability, such as Sauron and Morgoth who poured too much of their power into their creations, limiting their ability to change forms.

But not all lost that power. One refined itself so much that it took the form of pure darkness. Darkness was its ally. It gave itself a name. Morloth. Black Flower. In Harad it was known simply as Black Heart.

And on this night, Morloth was looking for a new victim. One to bring to her new friends, two other Maiar, who wished for sacrifices to try to break her former master, Morgoth, out of the Void. They were close, too. All they needed was the blood spilled in kinslaying.

As the little girl played with her rocks in the sand, suddenly she felt a chill. She dropped her toys and looked around.

Her scream was silenced as the Darkness filled her body.