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When he opened his eyes again, the Grey Pilgrim found himself face-down on a hard surface. He groaned and slowly opened his eyes, looking around. Where was he? What had happened? Why could he not see anything?
Having spent much of his time in Arda in strange or dangerous situations, the experienced wizard did not immediately panic. Instead he tried to recall what had happened before...
//The chamber. I found a hidden chamber and inside... that accursed book! Yes, that book... I read it -// Even the memory of the book; of its origins, its contents and its material brought back a violent wave of nausea and the Istar threw up, retching until his stomach hurt. //Dear Eru, how could this happen? How could Melko... // He shook his head. He had to stop this train of thought! Now he remembered he could not get away from the book - that something seemed to draw him near; forced him to keep reading until... //A blow. Something hit me square in the face and chest; that I remember now! And then... nothing.// Darkness. His waking up. Something had knocked him out, it seemed. So chances were he was still in that chamber and time had passed; day had turned into night and that was why everything was so dark.
The wizard stood and slowly made his way to the chamber's wall with uncertain steps; hands outstretched to avoid sudden contact with unseen objects. Once Gandalf had reached the wall, it was a rather easy feat to reach the door and grope for one of the candles he had dropped.
A calmly spoken Word of Power and the wick flickered, flared and then gave a small but steady light. Gandalf sighed with relief and threw the chamber door open with a ferocity that surprised himself. He bowed to gather up the candles and made his way up to the living-quarters of Orthanc. His mind at the same time, was far far away:
So this was what had happened to those elves that had refused Orome's invitation to come to the Undying Lands! First the Valar had been slightly miffed - that there were some of their children that would outright refuse their generous offer seemed offensive to them.
Later then, everybody had forgotten about them. Forgotten by the Valar, keepers of all Arda, who - together with all their lesser spirit-servants - revelled in the teaching and watching of the Star-Folk that had come to Valinor. So engrossed had they been in watching their progress in learning and honing new skills; in watching the Late-Born wake up and roam Arda that they had completely forgotten about the ungrateful Avarin-Elves!
Melko had caught, tortured and enslaved them until their very bodies and souls had succumbed to the unending horrors; until they had become what they now were - orcs. Certainly Melko had had the powers to create his own creatures, just like Aule had once done. But that had obviously not been enough for the wretched mind of the once mightiest of the Valar. He had to attack what others held dear. Twist what others thought beautiful into something utterly hideous, vicious and spiteful; nourishing their inbred hate by telling them how they had been forsaken by their kin until the very hate of the orcs towards the Eldar would drive them on.
He would make use of that, if possible. But first he needed to find out where Saruman had disappeared to!
TBC...
