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The city was still smoking in the distance while the few survivors gathered themselves in a well hidden valley right at the foot of the misty mountains. Galadriel’s epic sword fight with the Deceiver didn’t go unnoticed. Both Elrond and Ereinion were witnesses as she fell down, sacrificing her life to keep Nenya out of Sauron’s hands. Both King and Herald wasted no time in finding Galadriel and it took their combined power, with the help of the elven rings, to bring Galadriel back from the brink of death. She was taken towards the improvised tents set up for the many wounded patients that had fled the city just in time.
Sauron and his new found orcs did not linger long in the ruined city. The Deceiver knew that Lindon still posed a great threat to his new found authority and Durin’s Dwarven reinforcements had destroyed many of the orcs who remained in the city relishing their victory. Sauron left Ost-in-Edhil immediately and set off south, leaving the elves behind in a rather battered condition. Narvi ordered his dwarven soldiers to comb out the surrounding area and killed any straggling orcs before duty called him back to Khazad-Dum.
High-King Gil-Galad gave an inspiring speech mere hours after the hostilities died down. Even though most of the surviving elves had just lost everything, they felt invigorated by the King’s words and a small party was sent out to look for survivors. Elrond had volunteered to look for any possible wounded Elves left in and around the city. He first decided to check the hill top from which Galadriel made her desperate fall. The Half-Elf took Vorohil and Camnir along with them, both having followed Elrond out of Lindon in a futile attempt to warn Celebrimbor about the Deceiver’s identity.
Elrond walked around the hill top which was littered with corpses of both orcs and unarmed Elven women and children, a fact that made his blood boil. Nothing was sacred to the orcs, not even a child way too young to even understand the concept of war. It had been only a few days ago that he had stepped inside the tent of the leader of the orcs, a former Elf who called himself Adar. He held Galadriel hostage while trying to convince them to join his cause to destroy Sauron.
Wasn’t it the former Elf who had attacked the city in the first place? Wasn’t it Adar who walked straight into the Deceiver’s trap even though Galadriel had warned him that he was doing exactly as Sauron wished he would? Wasn’t it through his choices and orders that the Orcs had slaughtered so many innocent civilians and laid waste to the entire city? Elrond angrily kicked away an Orcish sword that lay abandoned on the ground. He ignored the searing pain that traveled through his foot, only a small price to pay compared with what they had lost.
Vorohil, a tall Elven warrior part of Ereinion’s own personal guard, carefully checked each of the Elven bodies lying on the ground. Elrond observed that the bulky guard showed no emotion on his face and wondered how the Elf could remain so composed at the sight of their dead kin all around them. Perhaps it was his Peredhel nature that made him feel emotions more intense, unable to hide them as well as the Elves did. High-King Gil-Galad had warned him about the tumultuous emotions men were plagued with, part of their nature that could cause so much violence and strife amongst themselves.
Elrond made his way over to the abandoned ruin sitting on top of the hill. The Elven bodies stopped appearing here, now only dead orcs were visible and signs of a great struggle. He walked towards the stony steps of the ruin that once had been a tower when he heard a weak gurgled coughing noise coming from his right. Elrond immediately moved towards the source of the sound and was surprised that it came not from an Elf but from the enemy, none other than the leader of the Orcs, Adar.
Elrond knelt down beside the heavily injured Uruk and looked for his injuries. Even though his thoughts screamed to end the Uruk’s life here and then, he could not bring himself to deliver the final blow to a defenceless and barely breathing living being. Instead his hands scrambled to undo the straps of the black armour when Camnir approached him from behind.
“Isn’t that their leader? The one they call Father?” Camnir asked with obvious dislike in his voice. He had not been present during the meeting between Elrond, Adar and Galadriel but he had been part of Elrond’s company. It was one of the Uruk’s forces who shot the wayward arrow that had found its way into Camnir’s stomach. It was his first taste of battle and they only got away with their lives because Galadriel sacrificed her freedom for theirs. And now that blasted Uruk was lying here at his feet while Elrond was removing the armour from his chest.
“Yes, this is Adar, he is heavily wounded but still alive. Come on and help me to stop the bleeding.” Elrond called out to his friend. With some slight hesitance, Camnir knelt down on the opposite side of Elrond and helped his Half-Elven friend with removing the Uruk’s armour and tunic so they could get a close look at his wounds. Elrond’s face paled when he saw that Adar had been stabbed at least a dozen times all over his body, how he was still alive was a mystery to him.
Adar’s eyes moved helplessly over to the two Elves kneeling down over him, unable to speak any words except for producing some gurgled sounds. His throat was filled with blood. The only thing that kept him alive, the only reason why he forced himself to take a breath though it seemed impossible, was his hatred for Sauron. The treachery that the Deceiver laid upon his children that made them turn against him broke his heart into a thousand pieces. But he had sworn in his mind, while he was being stabbed by those he sought to protect, that he would keep himself alive for as long as it took to witness the destruction of Sauron.
Meanwhile Vorohil had joined the other two Elves and saw to his surprise that his Commander was working to save the life of the one responsible of the city’s destruction. This time, Vorohil did betray his emotions as a dark frown fell upon his face. He however did not question Elrond’s decision to save the Uruk’s life though he did not relish the thought of helping either.
Precious minutes flew away while Elrond sang a song of healing that stopped the worst of the bleeding. Galadriel’s ring, that was still on his finger after his effort to save Galadriel’s life, shone brightly white as he felt both his and the ring’s power seeping into the fallen Uruk. The worst of his injuries were healed though Adar was not yet out of danger. His body had lost a lot of blood and was considerably weakened. Elrond’s attempt at healing had put Adar into a deep sleep as the Uruk had closed his eyes and was breathing a lot easier and more even.
Once Elrond was satisfied that Adar would survive the journey to their new hidden camp, he lifted up the unconscious Uruk with the help of Vorohil and Camnir. The relative short trek towards their hidden hideout proved to be a bit of a struggle while carrying Adar along with them but they nonetheless reached their camp without any further incident. Elrond approached the tents of the healers and together with the other two Elves in his company, he carefully laid down the Uruk on one of the cots.
“Make sure he stays in here until I speak with our High-King.” Elrond told a very surprised looking healer. “He is not to be harmed, he is a prisoner of war.” And with that, Elrond left the tent in search for his King to tell the news of his discovery. He wasn’t sure how to explain the situation to Ereinion but he hoped that his King would understand why he spared Adar’s life. An Uruk who could potentially wield a considerable force of influence over the Orcs was an important asset.
Meanwhile back in the healer’s tent, the two healers inside worked quickly to further stabilize the condition of the fallen Uruk. They noticed that Elrond had already done most of the work for them so all that was left was to further heal the many wounds on his body until they were all closed and give him a draught that would hopefully restore his body. They were uncertain if their medicine would work on an Orc but doing nothing was not an option so they took the risk.
After the healers were satisfied with their work, they left the tent to treat the many other patients in adjoining tents, leaving Adar behind on the improvised cot with one other wounded companion.
An entire day passed by without Adar noticing it until he finally opened his eyes. He did not recognize the fabric of the tent as his eyes shifted over the coloured cloth. “It took you long enough to wake up.” Came a female voice to his right. His eyes shifted over to the source of the sound but he only slightly moved his head as his entire body was aching ever so terribly. Until his utter surprise he saw the familiar golden locks that belonged to the fierce Elven warrior Galadriel. So she did survive her meeting with the Deceiver then, he mused to himself.
“What has transpired between you and the Deceiver?” He croaked softly. Though there was no longer any blood in his throat obscuring his voice, he found it tough to speak clearly feeling that the effort took so much out of him that he wanted nothing more than to fall asleep again.
“He took the nine rings for men and left after I made sure that the Elven rings did not fall into his hands.” Galadriel replied with venom in her voice as the memory of her confrontation with Sauron mere days ago poured back into her mind. The Deceiver had stabbed her in the chest with Morgoth’s crown before she could escape by falling down the hill, a feat she did not expect to survive yet here she was together with the Uruk whom she thought she saw dying right in front of her.
The betrayal of his Orcs had felt painful to Galadriel. Mere moments before he was stabbed, she witnessed what her ring did to Adar and she came so close to agreeing to Adar’s terms to join forces. It had been the moment when she saw that there was still light left within the Uruk’s mind despite all the things he had done or had been done to him through the centuries. That made it exceptionally painful when his Orcs turned against him with Glüg plunging a dagger straight into his chest.
But now they were both here, together in one of the healer’s tents having both survived the seemingly impossible. “So he walks free with my Orcs and many rings to corrupt the minds of men.” Adar replied with a soft sigh.
Galadriel sat up on her cot and observed the Uruk with pity in her eyes. “Yes he walks free but not for long. Already we have plans to call upon Númenor’s aid and the Dwarves are at our side. Sauron might have the rings of men but even he can not face a combined army of three.”
“And here I thought most of the Elves had fallen. Men are no match for Sauron, not with my misguided children at his side.”
“Do not underestimate the strength of the Númenoreans. They perhaps do not fight with the skills of that we Elves possess but they have great strength and heart. We have to find the Deceiver before he gets the chance to use the rings he took.” Even while wounded, Galadriel was already forming plans in her head to chase down her enemy.
“Nothing pleases me more than to see the Deceiver fall.” Adar replied with some amusement in his voice at Galadriel’s ever so strong fighting spirit. “My original proposal still stands, we need the Elven rings to destroy Sauron once and for all. Without them, he would just find his way back into a physical body once more. I have killed him before, merely stabbing him does not destroy one of the Maiar.”
“Then you should become part of the hunting party.” Came the voice of Elrond who had wandered into the tent mere moments ago, long enough to overhear their conversation but without being noticed by the two of them.
“So you have spoken to our King then?” Galadriel asked. Adar could only shift his eyes between the two and guess what the Elven King had decided what his fate would be.
“Yes, although he was initially not happy with the idea, I managed to convince him that Adar could prove to be a powerful ally if he agrees to help us in defeating Sauron once and for all. Your testimony on the hill top had been important as well.” Elrond now shifted his gaze towards the still weakly looking Uruk lying on the cot. “Our High-King Gil-Galad is willing to work together towards our common cause of defeating Sauron. If you agree to his terms, we can put up a small expedition to find out where Sauron has fled to and how to convince the Orcs to turn away from him. Sauron would be a much easier target if he lost his army.”
“Careful Melian’s offspring, Sauron alone is still a dangerous force to be reckoned with.” Adar replied though he was already forming plans in his mind how to regain the trust of his children. If the Elves could help him get close to his Orcs, he might persuade them back to his side again but he needed the power of the Elven rings to stand a chance.
“That is why we are going to make sure that we are ready to face him when we must.” Elrond replied with confidence, placing his arms over each other allowing the glint of Nenya to be viewed by the Uruk.
“We will make sure we are prepared, now show me to your King so we can discuss the details.” Adar replied with a smile on his face. He knew that the Elves were finally willing to use the rings, he knew that Galadriel understood the need of these rings to once and for all destroy Sauron’s spirit.
“I will go and fetch him.” Elrond nodded at the Uruk before leaving the tent. He was happy and relieved that the Uruk was so quickly willing to help them. If there was even a chance to convince the Orcs not to fight, it could save the world a lot of bloodshed, there was enough hope to give Adar a second chance at returning to the light.
“I am glad that you still live. Seeing you being stabbed had wounded me as well.” Galadriel spoke with warmth in her voice.
Adar smiled earnestly in turn, “I am glad that I still breathe as well. It would have been a great shame to leave this world behind while Sauron still walks upon it. I am confident that we will bring him to his knees.”
Galadriel moved over to the Uruk and patted his shoulder. “Take the rest that you need and then we will make sure that Sauron’s days in Middle-Earth are numbered.”
“Perhaps my children will finally one day live in peace.” Adar replied feeling satisfied for the first time in a long while.
“Let’s hope that they do, together.”
“Together…”