The Sands of Rhun: A Middle Earth Story(Book 2)

Chapter 24: The Phantom Tower

   We followed close behind the strangers, all of whom had fallen unnaturally silent. There was no laughter, no shouts of greeting to fellow soldiers; not even their beasts broke the silence. It was almost like a funeral procession, though if possible even more grim. The silence, however uncomfortable it was, gave me a chance to contemplate the events that had transpired recently.

   It had been two weeks since Nadow and his warriors had joined forces with us, and already I felt a kinship with them all. I had learned through talking with him that Nadow and his father were very close, and his death had devastated him. However, being the warrior he was, he was reluctant to show it outwardly.

His men respected him greatly, and they themselves emphatically asserted that they'd die for their Prince. I could understand why, he was a skilled warrior and an honorable leader, able to lower himself to the level of his knights when talking with them but able to bear the burden of disciplining them when it was needed.

As for Hadar, he seemed to be at home with this sort of life. I would often see him traveling ahead of the group and scouting ahead, only to return with provisions and sometimes even weapons. Where he got these things, I do not know, but whenever I'd ask he'd simply say "you know, here and there." After a while I stopped asking.

His men were a rowdy bunch, kept together only by their friendship and mutual love for adventure. They had no particular love for me, but they respected Hadar at least. He himself stated that he wasn't their leader, but he made all of the big decisions for them so he was their leader in all but name.

As for Caledorn... Well, let's just say it was obvious that he was only here by necessity. The Elven warrior seemed to think the whole journey was a drudgery, and rarely spoke with any of our other companions. He spoke with me frequently though, and while he didn't complain openly, everything he said gave away his distaste for the journey. I couldn't exactly blame him... Being the only elf among a group of easterners was surely difficult, and the rather crude behavior of many of them would make anyone used to Elven grace and manners cringe.

Our group as a whole was strange, to say the least. A prince of Rhûn, a Haradrim mercenary, an Elvish warrior... Surely, it was an alliance born of necessity. But through it, we were growing closer, despite our different backgrounds.

   And even as we grew closer to each other, we came ever closer to my homeland. I was unsure of what awaited us there, but the fact that we had made it this far gave me hope.

   The land that we were in now was nothing like Rhûn. The desert had transformed into thick jungle around us, and it was stiflingly hot. But the jungle wasn't alive with creatures... No, rather it seemed altogether dead, eerily so. The only green came from sickly moss that clung to dead grey tree branches that hung low over the path. The path itself, if it could even be called that, looked as if it were made of twisting roots and dark vines, but beneath these were probably pavestones, though I couldn't tell.

   What was strangest of all though, was that as we progressed further into the forest there was a greenish, unnatural glow that filtered through the trees ahead.

   "This forest is sick," Hadar said grimly as he reined his horse in beside me, speaking further in his native tongue in what I could only decipher as a curse of some sort.

   "What happened to it?" I asked, glancing at the decaying forest around us.

   "I don't know, but powerful magic is at work here."

   "Pah!" One of Nadow's knights scoffed. "Magic is as real as Ogres are, meaning not at all."

   "Silence! Hadar is right, I feel it too." Nadow held up a hand and narrowed his eyes.