My Strange Persephone

Part seven: flashback

(Three months ago)

Adar landed on the ground, hard, and got up, shaking hay and twigs out of his hair. The elf pursuing him, and whoever had just knocked Adar off his horse, would probably take a few seconds to catch up with him. And Adar needed to make this ruse last as long as he possibly could.

As Adar began to crawl forwards, he could feel one of his ribs beginning to hurt. A few centuries ago, when Adar had done something to Sauron, Sauron had broken that bone and made it heal back the wrong way. Adar had never figured out how to properly heal that, and the pain sometimes flared up. To make matters worse, Adar had landed directly on his side, exactly the worst place he could have in terms of his injury.

Adar was a few seconds away from the decoy sword when he felt something sharp pierce his hand. He'd been stabbed. He rolled over on his back to get a good look at whoever had just stabbed him. Adar was sure it was the human man, but wasn't sure how his pursuer had been able to get ahead of him. It was like there were magical shortcuts in the forest. The human man was indeed there, and looked down at Adar. "Do you remember me?"

A cold feeling of recognition washed over Adar. Oh, he recognized that man. He'd recognize him anywhere, even disguised as a human, for some weird reason. There was no way in a million years Adar could ever forget Sauron, especially after he was dead sure he'd killed the demon. But giving Sauron any kind of a reaction would just be giving him what he wanted. Adar figured Sauron wouldn't do anything too drastic here, not with the elf woman watching. He wouldn't want to blow his cover. So Adar could bite back without fear of what Sauron would do to him or his children.

"No." Adar said calmly, trying to make it seem believable. A momentary flash of fury crossed Sauron's eyes, before he realized Adar was lying. Sauron tilted his head to the side. 'So that's the way you want to play it?' His gesture seemed to see. Adar smirked. 'Bring it.'

Sauron then took the opportunity to prove to Adar once and for all that he was indeed Sauron, and stepped on Adar's broken rib. It hurt like the devil, but Adar made sure his face didn't show it.

"Did I cause harm to someone you loved, perhaps?" Adar said, meeting Sauron's glare. Sauron had hurt many people he claimed to love. The Uruk. Adar. Morgoth. They'd all suffered for this man's 'love.'

Sauron raised his spear, but the elf woman caught it before Adar could be impaled. An impact like that wouldn't hurt him. Most injuries that would be deadly to someone else barely left a scratch on Adar. Morgoth took good care of his creations, and made them hard to kill.

"A woman, perhaps?" Adar asked, wanting to bait Sauron as much as he possibly could. Clearly, the elf woman was important to Sauron somehow. If Adar could get Sauron to show his true colors in front of her, he'd consider that a win. And then perhaps the elf woman wouldn't get trapped inside Sauron's web.

The barb about 'a woman' was one only Sauron would understand, and the elf woman wouldn't read as an insult. When Adar was younger, he'd been perceived as a woman, and given to Sauron as a 'bride'. Sauron pretended to be the most supportive person ever when Adar came out, but secretly felt like he'd been robbed of his queen. Adar was resentful Sauron took his gender as a personal insult, and wanted to twist the knife, just a little.

"Don't do it." The elf woman said, as Sauron raised his spear again. "Salt water won't satisfy your thirst." Yeah, Sauron wasn't getting out of this one by taking the high road. Adar smirked, and gave his final bait. "A child?"

Sauron's eyes flashed red. When Adar had been married to Sauron, he'd been eighteen, and Sauron had been many centuries old. At the time, Adar hadn't seen that as weird, because Sauron looked around the same age as he was. But he later found it creepy that Sauron, an immortal demon, wanted to marry a teenager. Sauron was insulted that Adar didn't like their huge age gap, and would often get angry when Adar brought it up. From the look in Sauron's eyes, this was the final straw.