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b2mem2019-03-20 09:59 pm
The Next Great Step Towards Darkness by octopus_fool
Format: Ficlet
Genre: Humor
Rating: Teen
Warnings: some gore and violence
Characters: The Witch King, Orcs, Fell Beasts [Note to the tag mods: I'm not sure what your preferred tag for the Witch King would be, so I'm leaving that foe for you to slay ;) ]
Pairings: none
Creator’s Notes (optional): none
Summary: The Witch King was sceptical. It was hard to be anything but sceptical if you had seen the creatures Lord Sauron had previously praised as being “the next great step towards Darkness”.
Also on AO3.
The Witch King was sceptical. It was hard to be anything but sceptical if you had seen the creatures Lord Sauron had previously praised as being “the next great step towards Darkness”.
There had been oozing, oversized worms that could do little more than eat, headless horses that ran as fast as the wind but kept crashing into walls, long-legged, spidery creatures that tripped over their own legs and snakes that were so hungry that they ate their own tails.
Worst of all had been the fiery steads. Nobody was entirely sure who was even meant to ride them and nobody was terribly eager to do so. And that was before the entire stable complex burnt down. The Witch King couldn’t say he was entirely sad that that was the end of any plans involving those creatures. He wasn’t terribly fond of fire in the first place.
And now Lord Sauron had sent him a messenger to inform him that he had been breeding new creatures for the Witch King and the other Nazgûl, creatures which would be the next great step towards Darkness. To say that the Witch King was not expecting much was a bit of an overstatement.
The messenger Snaga opened the outer set of doors to the menagerie and closed them again before opening the inner doors. The orcs iuhad long since developed this system to make sure none of the beasts in Lord Sauron’s breeding programs could escape.
The Witch King was greeted by a chorus of hisses and an orc that bowed low, probably one of the masters of beasts.
“My Lord, I am so glad you found the time to take a look at our newest breeding success.” One of the creatures landed on the outstretched arm of the orc with a shriek. “They are strong, they are swift and they will instil terror in the hearts of the enemy.”
The last one was certainly true, the Witch King thought, the shriek of the creature still echoing within him and sending shivers of joy down what had once been his spine.
When he held out his own arm, another of the creatures swooped down and landed with an equally piercing cry.
He took a closer look at the creature. It was about the length of his outstretched arm, black and had a beak full of pointy looking teeth which it seemed to be keen on displaying. It had long wings covered in bare skin folded elegantly on its back. Its sharp claws dug deep into his robes. When it hissed, it emitted a smell that could raise the dead.
“What is their function going to be?” The Witch King asked. “Are they going to be hunting beasts?”
“While they will certainly be good at hunting and could be used as such, they are mostly going to be steads.”
The Witch King looked at the creature on his arm. “For goblins? They look rather small for steads.”
The master of beasts shook his head. “They only hatched a week ago. Although they are already growing rapidly, they are only a fraction of the size they will be. Their mother was far larger than a horse, not counting the wings.”
The Witch King looked at the beast appraisingly. That indeed sounded promising.
“What do they eat?” The Witch King asked.
“Flesh of all kinds.”
On hearing the words, the beast on the Witch King’s arm started fidgeting.
“You understood that, didn’t you? You’re quite a clever little thing.”
The beast preened and showed its teeth. The Witch King turned around and with smooth motions cut the heart out of Snaga, who was still cowering by the door.
The Witch King picked up the heart and held it out to the beast, which devoured it and licked its beak clean with its narrow grey tongue.
“This one is mine,” the Witch King stated. “Only feed it the best of foods.”
“Of course, my Lord.”
The Witch King held out his gloved hand to pet the creature and it nuzzled into his glove almost lovingly. If the Witch King had still had a face, he would have been beaming. He could feel that this was the beginning of a beautiful friendship.
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- Erulisse (one L)
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