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"Called, I say, though I have not called you to me, strangers from distant lands. You have come and are here met, in this very nick of time, by chance as it seems."
Emerald looked around the circle at the people gathered. Elves, men, dwarves, a wizard, and even a hobbit. Everyone sat on decorative chairs, encircling a podium. Everyone wore a look of pure seriousness and worry, the mood as somber as could be. The hobbit carried forth a ring and placed it on the podium. Emerald listened as the people around her spoke: what they knew about the ring, what they thought should be done with it.
She approached the ring and picked it up in her hand, paying only half attention to the voices around her. What was the big deal? It was just a simple gold ring. A pretty one, yes, but nothing to set it apart from any other ring she'd ever seen. The female part of her encouraged her to try it on, so she slipped it onto her forefinger, where it was loose. Shaking her hand, the cold metal rattled against her small finger, and when she hung her fingers the ring slipped off, hit the podium, and bounced onto the ground.
Emerald looked around to see if anybody had noticed, but nobody seemed to pay any mind to her.
She recognized nobody in the circle save one. A man, a ranger as far as she could remember, who had wandered into her kingdom once, many years ago, when she was very small. She couldn't remember his name, nor anything about him, except that he was a good story-teller. Emerald always remembered good stories.
Another man, with lighter hair than the one she recognized, was speaking on something, and recited some poem or rather, though she didn't know why:
"Seek for the Sword that was broken:
It was a nice little poem, with all kinds of ominous meaning to it by the sound, so Emerald took special care to memorize it, reciting it to herself several times. No doubt Beven would find it lovely.
Emerald picked the gold ring up and set it back on the podium, no longer very interested in such a simple piece of jewelry. She looked at the faces of the people, and although she'd studied history and geography for a long time, she couldn't place anybody, nor even the place they were.
That's when she heard it. A faint chanting at first that steadily grew louder and louder in her ears, though nobody else seemed to notice it, until the words were so loud that Emerald couldn't help but clench her hands over her ears.
Ash nazg durbatuluk, ash nazg gimbatul, ash nazg thrakatuluk, agh burzum-ishi krimpatul.
She closed her eyes along with her ears, trying to block out the incredibly loud noise, only to see a large eye. It glowed with an orange flame, never blinking, and rushed straight towards her, just like the scary face had done years before. It was coming straight towards her...
Emerald sat straight up in bed, gasping for breath. Out of habit, her hand grasped for the ring hung around her neck, and her eyes darted about the dark room for any disturbances. There was no one there.
She reached to the side table for the cup of water she always kept sitting there, ever since the nightmares had started, and took a large gulp. Her heart was all a flutter; beads of perspiration glistened on her forehead. She sat up for another second before falling backwards into her pillows, trying to calm her nerves.
Beven looked up as somebody entered the library. Seeing it was only his younger sister, his gaze returned to the scroll he was writing on.
"What can I do for you, Emmy?"
"I had another one," she replied simply, coming to sit across from him at the table.
"Again?" Beven asked with concern. As the biggest scholar in the family, Emerald always sought out his advice on strange dreams– nightmares, often. They had begun a couple years earlier, but only as a rare occurrence: visions of the same cruel face from the puddle, fragmented sentences, images of book covers or maps or such that Emerald couldn't identify. As of late, though, these dreams had become more frequent.
"Yes," she nodded. "It wasn't a new one, though, really. I was at that strange meeting again, and that ring was set on the table, and I put it on again. It was still too big, though, and fell off."
"Did they say the poem again?" Beven questioned. "Or do you remember anyone you saw there?" He pushed the scroll to the side and scooted his chair closer.
Emerald nodded, "Yes, but...I still can't remember it."
"Any of it?"
Emerald squeezed her eyes shut, trying hard to recall the words, but only came up with, "Stronger than Morgul-spells, and That Doom is near at hand. Those are the only two lines I can remember. And that man was there again, that ranger that came through here a long time ago."
"There have been lots of rangers here, Emmy."
"I know, but this one was a good story-teller."
Beven laughed and shook his head, "That would be what you remembered." Emerald allowed a smile, too, though she was still thinking about the dream. She'd had this one more than any of the others, and still was no closer to figuring it out than when it'd first occurred.
"Have you figured anything out about the other two?" Emerald suggested. Beven retrieved the papers he kept hidden in his desk on which he and Emerald were keeping a record, but shook his head.
"Nothing. No matter how hard I look, I can't find anything on an elf-stone, anybody named Dernhelm, and nothing about kingsfoil except what we already know," Beven answered. He spread the papers out for them to look at.
Emerald sighed, "All this...it doesn't fit together."
"Unless you're seeing the future."
Emerald laughed at this, "Yes, I'm a true prophet. I can't even remember what I see!"
"Maybe you're not meant to," Beven suggested.
"Come now, Beven. You don't believe in all this foretelling and vision stuff. You're the sensible one in the family."
"Not as much as Hergest," he pointed out. "I believe in what I see and I learn from books, but that doesn't mean I can't learn new things."
Emerald gazed over the map of Middle-Earth that Beven kept with the papers, just in case Emerald happened to remember the name of a place, or even a landmarker. Thus far, she had not.
"Well, there's nothing more I can remember now," she groaned with disappointment. "If only..."
Beven patted her arm reassuringly, then wrapped her in a side hug, "You'll remember eventually, Baby." Emerald smiled at the nickname her oldest brothers continued to call her, though she wasn't a baby any longer. Still young, but not a baby. "If it's important enough, you'll remember."
"I hope you're right."
"I am. I'm always right. I'm the smart one, remember?" he joked. Giving her a slight shove, he ordered, "Okay, go now. Go bug someone else, I've got work to do."
Emerald kissed him on the cheek, then did as he'd commanded.
"Is this it, Papa?"
King Orwig nodded, "Yes, precious one. This is Orthanc."
Emerald looked around in awe. The grand forest they'd passed through seemed to dance and sway while turning its ancient eyes on them. The pathway through it had been long and dark --the South Road, Auryn said it was called. Now the way cleared out into a garden wrapped around an intimidating dark tower. Emerald looked up but couldn't see the top stretching so far above. It was very tall.
“Come,” King Orwig instructed, dismounting and taking his daughter’s arm once she had done the same. The two guards with them, Pherannon and Alagedh, followed closely behind. They slowly climbed up the looming staircase before them and stopped at the thick iron doors. Emerald reached out and ran her fingers along the cool metal fashioned in sharp angles, giving it a haunting, threatening appearance. She wondered why her father, so adamant that she stay securely in the confines of their kingdom, would bring her here of all places. Even though she knew Saruman was a very talented wizard and a good friend of her father among many others, the place still seemed to reek of gloom and sorrow.
The doors creaked and she jumped back to stand behind her father and Alagedh as they swung open. On the other side stood a tall, thin man with a long white beard and silvery-white robes. King Orwig grinned to see the wizard and shook his hand, extolling how good it was to see him and that it had been far too long, while Emerald remained half-covered by Alagedh, carefully studying this stranger. The tower in which he lived seemed to be an extension of himself –Emerald found the bent nose, thick eyebrows, and dark, penetrating eyes unsettling, even on a friend of her fathers. He seemed to feel her watching him, because he eyes jerked directly from greeting King Orwig to staring at her.
“Ah. This must be the Princess Emerald of whom I’ve heard so much,” he grinned, approaching with an outstretched hand. Alagedh stepped aside, forcing her into the open. So she did what her genteel upbringing had taught her, holding out her hand for Saruman to take as he bowed to her, returning the curtsey, and returning a faint, “Lord Saruman.”
“My, she’s much more soft-spoken then you alluded to.” King Orwig laughed, and both Pherannon and Alagedh shifted, trying not to do the same, which would be out of their place.
“Oh, she’s just too over-run with curiosity to be her bold self,” her father explained. “It’s her first time away from home.”
Saruman nodded his understanding, then commented more to Emerald than Orwig, “Well, imagine keeping a jewel like this hidden from the rest of the world. It is a crime, Orwig!” The king laughed but Emerald narrowed her eyes; she didn’t like the way he looked at her, nor the way he laughed. “Well, no matter, come inside. We have matters to discuss, Orwig, and the Princess can have a rest.” Alagedh nudged her gently in the back when she hesitated.
As soon as they had crossed the threshold, King Orwig directed his attention to Saruman, trusting Emerald to follow and look after herself. However, the last thing she wanted to do was sit in a room with her father and that wizard and listen to them go on about whatever was so important her father had felt the need to make this trip. So after they had ascended several thousand more steps (Emerald had to wonder why such an old man would live in a place with so many steps), Emerald broke off from the rest of the group, slipping away unnoticed by all except Alagedh.
There was a doorway to her left, and she silently approached this, running her hands along the wall to help guide her along in the minimal candle light. Surely a wizard could better illuminate his home. She stepped inside and stopped short to just look around from her spot. The room itself wasn’t anything spectacular; large, dusty windows cast a dull glow over what Emerald guessed to be just as many papers as were in the library at home, except crammed into a quarter of the space. Every flat space had stacks of looseleaf, manuscripts, books, maps. Various trinkets were strewn about the room –nothing really of interest; nothing that Emerald could assign any importance to. She walked to one of the windows and wiped her hand along it, removing enough of the dust to let her see outside. It was a beautiful view from so high up, the miles and miles and miles of land she could see. You were sitting on top of the world from up here.
However, she was more curious about the papers than the view, so she turned her attention to digging through what was on the table. Unfortunately for her curiosity, there didn’t seem to be anything of intrigue. Histories, mainly –histories of all the surrounding lands, abandoned cities, current cities, etc. She found a pretty thick pile on Eregion and the Elves that had lived there, but she didn’t feel like wasting her time reading a history that was probably sitting at home in her very own library. So she kept looking, but the only things she found besides the histories were maps, and these were slightly boring and pretty meaningless to her. She perused the one of Mordor for a couple minutes, interested to know why Saruman would have a map of that laying on the top of the other papers, showing he had probably been looking at it recently. Sauron had been defeated though, hadn’t he? And his domain turned into a ghostly shadowland? The only reason she could think of to have a map of a region would be if you were at war with that region, but they weren’t anymore. So why were there recent ink marks on it? She set the map down and was in the process of picking up another series of papers when a voice behind her demanded–
“What are you doing?” She jumped and spun around, then rolled her eyes.
“Alagedh, you scared me!”
“I wouldn’t have scared you if you weren’t up to something,” he pointed out, crossing his arms.
“I’m not ‘up to something,’” she mocked. Emerald picked some of the papers up and explained, “I was just–“
”Snooping?”
“I’m not snooping. I was just... indulging my curiosity.”
“Well come away from there before Saruman catches you. You probably shouldn’t be in here.”
Emerald sighed but set everything down and turned to follow. She had almost reached Alagedh in the doorway when another doorway caught her eye; she hadn’t noticed it before. She quickly redirected herself towards this new door.
“Lady!”
“What?”
“We should go join your father and Pherannon,” he reminded, hurrying to head her off.
“I know, just let me look in here real quick...”
“My Lady...”
“If you’re so worried, you stand watch. Stay right here and tell me if you hear anyone coming. It’ll just be a minute.”
“Fine,” Alagedh sighed. He couldn’t argue with Emerald; very few could. He turned and leaned against the wall as she rushed through the doorway.
This new room completely matched the creepiness of the rest of the place. The walls seemed to stretch on forever and she could hardly see the ceiling so high above her. The smooth stone floor shone under the light sneaking in through the open doorway. And there, in the middle of the room, stood a stone platform with a grey cloth draped over it. This was the only thing in the whole room and was just asking to be explored. Emerald looked around, but except for Alagedh’s shoulder in the doorway, there wasn’t anyone around. Perfect.
She slowly approached the platform and reached a tentative hand out to the cloth. When nothing happened under her touch, she gently lifted the cloth off and gazed wide-eyed at the object beneath. Though strange, it wasn’t anything spectacular: a round black ball, as smooth as it was shiny. Her clear reflection in the surface looked back at her and grew larger as she leaned in. Though at first she thought the sphere was opaque, she realized upon closer inspection that it was actually mildly translucent –at least around the edges she could see faint traces of light shining through. Emerald still leaned closer and closer until her nose was only a few inches away, and that’s when she saw it, a faint glowing in the center that began to expand, reaching outwards with fiery fingers.
A sudden grip on her arm made Emerald jump back and look around wildly. Saruman tightened his grip and pulled her back another step, grinning knowingly at her the whole time.
“My, you’re a curious child, aren’t you?” Emerald was too surprised to glare and just nodded. “And this, this is an interesting object, is it not?”
“Wh... what is it?”
“This, my child, is a palantir, a seeing stone. There are only a few in existence.”
“Where are the others?”
“Many are unaccounted for,” he replied vaguely. There was silence for a moment as he watched her regarding the palantir carefully, then he continued, “It gives the owner power to communicate with whatever is around the others.” She reached her hand out and ran her fingers around the ball. “Does power intrigue you?”
Emerald’s hand jerked back and her head snapped towards Saruman as she corrected, “I’m curious, not power-hungry.”
“Of course. As a princess, you already have all the power you could desire?” he posed, more a question than the statement.
“Yes.”
“Of course.” He smiled at her again and whatever lurked beneath that cool demeanor made Emerald shift uncomfortably. However, the intrusively leading tone he had used for the previous questions disappeared and was replaced by what she viewed as far too forced an attempt at casualness. “You should be careful, Princess. That curiosity of yours could get you into trouble.”
“Like I don’t hear that fifty times a day,” she rolled her eyes.
Saruman chuckled and suggested, “You should come sit with your father and I, before you get yourself into trouble.” Before Emerald could consider that what he said sounded an awful lot like a threat, Saruman was gone and the palantir was covered again. Emerald made a face, then hurried back to the doorway where Alagedh was still standing.
“Ready to return?”
“Why didn’t you tell me Saruman was coming?” she demanded.
Alagedh shook his head, “What?”
“Saruman. I just talked to him. Why didn’t you tell me he was coming in?”
“Lady Emerald, nobody has gone through this door since I’ve been standing here.” She looked at him closely but Alagedh was not one to lie to her. He shrugged and offered, “If you’re sure it was him... I don’t know how he got in there, but he is a wizard.”
Emerald nodded, “Yeah, I guess. Let’s go, then. This place makes me nervous.” Alagedh could only agree.
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