Shadow of Angmar

Chapter 8

In the end, Legolas had no word in sending Mistril to Dol Guldur but suddenly Faervel had a change of heart and sent her with Tudor instead of sending her alone.

As soon as the archer met her at the gate, he just started to grunt and complain and they weren't even halfway there.

"This place is horrible. Why did he send me, he should have sent Maerdor." The archer whispered, feeling his heart pound loudly in his chest.

"We're nowhere close to it, though." She answered, her mind going back and forth between the aftermaths of her curiosity. "What is this place we were sent to, anyway?"

"A fortress. It used to be part of Greenwood but then-"Tudor stopped and remembered how Thranduil reacted when he told Mistril about the war. "-then it wasn't anymore." He continued slowly.

Mistril rolled her eyes at the obvious change of mind.

"Did the king advice you to not share any more information with me?" She asked, thinking about how he yelled at her the last time.

"Not really, he just- he's been acting off lately. Not necessarily bad but just...different." Tudor explained the best he could.

"Maybe because of how the atmosphere in the forest has been changing,"

Tudor looked at how nonchalant Mistril was and chuckled.

"I don't know about that," He muttered, following her closely.

It took them quite a bit to get there and the closer they got, the darker and tighter became the forest. Tudor had to stop several times because he felt like somebody was suffocating him.

Dol Guldur was an ugly place. Mistril stopped at the bridge that led into the fortress and felt familiar. Maybe she hasn't been here before but she did spend a long time in a place just as dark and cold like Dol Guldur.

She took one step forward and felt a breeze around her legs, as if it was inviting her in.

"Um, I'm not going in. I can't, believe me, it's...horrible," Tudor said, trying his best to keep his body from trembling. "There is...so much dread coming from it."

"It's alright, I'll go in alone,"

Tudor seemed shocked. There was not an ounce of fear or stress in Mistril's body. She walked in as if she just walked into the Halls, with no worries.

It was deserted as far as she could see.

"Anything?" Tudor yelled from afar.

The stone walls were wet and everything was broken. Each step seemed like it shook the ground, every breath she took made her feel colder and there wasn't much to be said of the fortress.

"There's nobody in here! At least, not now." She mumbled the later part.

"Let's return. This place makes my blood freeze!" Tudor shouted, an urge to make her leave taking over him.

He was right to believe so because Mistril's attraction to the darkness was hard to control, especially in such a place. She breathed out as she walked deeper into the fortress yet not enough. It was just one step but her eyes widened and she felt fear crawl up her arms again. It was incredibly strong. It wasn't forceful but alluring.

"What is this?" she said out loud in awe at the way her hands started to tremble.

The same cloaked creature lurked around her, making her gasp at her own imagination. She didn't look back, didn't take a peek over her shoulder because she was afraid it might turn up to be real this time. But someone grabbed her arm and spun her around and it had brown hair and brown eyes.