Shadow of Mordor - The Novel

Chapter Two - An Interested Party

As Talion followed the strange tracks, he thought out loud, "These tracks are not quite human, not quite beast..."

The Wraith's voice sounded in Talion's head, "All the more reason to investigate."

Talion continued along the trail left behind by the odd creature, when he came across three Uruk-hai beating an undeserving slave to death. Talion jumped from a small cliff, landing a short distance away, and raised his hand, summoning the spectral bow. Time slowed, and as Talion pulled back the bowstring, he aimed at one Orc's head. The bowstring vibrated as the arrow flew, slamming into the Uruk's forehead, and startling the other two. Talion released the bow, and as it faded away, he drew Urfael. He charged the Uruks, and before either had time to even draw their weapons, they were both dead at the feet of the Ranger. "Thank you!" The slave whispered as he ran away.

"Not even Outcasts deserve this fate." Talion said to himself.

 "The chain of Man seems to always end in shackles," The Wraith said shortly.

 Talion made his way through an old Uruk tent, then found that the tracks made their way up a wooden wall.

"It appears this creature is an apt climber."

He jumped up, aided by the Wraith, and climbed up the short wall. Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted a group of Uruks gathered around a large campfire. All of a sudden, he had an idea. He raised his arm, aiming the bow at the center of the fire, and let loose an arrow. The fire detonated viciously, killing all Uruks there in an instant. He continued following the trail of footprints, until he came to a small camp of miners.

 Three slaves were being forced to mine and dig up ore for the Uruk war machines, with no rest, no food, and no water. Talion saw, above the camp, a Morgai fly nest, similar to wasps, but far worse. They love Uruk flesh, but leave Men alone for the most part, and no one knows why. Again, he aimed the bow, and fired.

The nest fell from the overhang and shattered on the ground below, sowing terror and pain among the Uruks gathered there.Once the Orcs had all run off or been killed, Talion sneaked into the camp and bade the slaves flee.

"Go quickly, run to freedom." Talion said quickly.

 "Thank you Ranger, I am in your debt!" One of the former slaves said before he ran off, garnering a small smile from Talion.

Talion ran on, following the tracks, thinking out loud once more. "Your creature's path is fraught with danger..." Talion followed the tracks to a cave,and as he approached the mouth of the small cavern, he saw the creature. It looked like it had once been a Man, or a Halfling at best, but was now a twisted and deformed thing. Thin and scrawny, with pale skin, and only a ragged loincloth to cover itself, it scampered into the cave. "There! It's on the run!" Talion yelled out. He ran after the creature into the cave, using the Wraith's sight to see where it had gone. The tracks now led all around the cave, a conglomeration of footprints that seemed incoherent in where they led, but one set seemed brighter than all the rest, and as Talion walked alongside it, he found out why. At the center of a flat ledge inside the cave, there lay what appeared to be a necklace. Beautiful craftsmanship, a fine work of silver, with a polished green gem set in the center of it. Talion picked it up, examining the work of art, but with a flash, a searing pain blinded Talion, and he fell to his knees.

A vision lay before his sight of a woman, and a young girl, both with an ageless beauty and pointed ears. Elves, a race that had not seen the land of Mordor in an age... They smiled at Talion, but then, the vision changed horribly. A mithril hammer, dripping with blood dominated his sight. The bodies of the Elf woman and girl lay still, broken and missing any and all semblance of life. The vision ended, and Talion opened his eyes to see the Wraith staring at him with a pained look on his face.