Upon his seat in Elarothiel, Kaen Eowenríel stood beneath the Golden Tree and slowly opened his eyes. He had strained his spirit to the utmost, drawing on the Tree's light to cast his sight across near a thousand leagues, and a faint weariness lingered in his gaze.
Aragorn had ridden into peril, and Kaen, as elder and mentor, could not but watch. His will had followed their company until they crossed into the Ettenmoors, yet there the dark power thickened like fog, and his sight was blotted out. Only the desperate, faithful prayers of the King's Guards reached him, and by that slender thread he cast a great, distant spell to aid them.
He saw, then, the war-fortress hidden in the wastes, yet it lay swathed in a deeper shadow than he could pierce. The avalanche set in motion by the fortress's defenses had sapped him, and though he perceived the Witch-king's voice, and the mustering of northern Orcs, he could not unravel the fortress's full secret. He knew, with a cold certainty, that he must act.
"Bring me my commanders," he commanded.
A captain of the King's Guard knelt and came forward. Kaen spoke without haste, issuing orders as one who measures the weight of fate. "Caden shall lead the heavy composite legion, Mundar shall bring the composite troops north to camp outside the Ettenmoors, they will move at once and with all speed."
"By your order," came the reply.
Half a month later, Aragorn and the King's Guard returned to Elarothiel, wearied but victorious. They presented themselves before Kaen. The king dismissed the formalities, then bid Aragorn relate all that they had seen. Aragorn obeyed, speaking the full tale of the Ettenmoors, of the fortress, and of the great blue beast they had beheld.
"Lord," Aragorn said, "within that fortress are Cold-drakes, those northern dragons, ancient engines of war long abandoned and now bent under the Dark's sway."
Kaen's face grew grave, his star-burnished eyes bright with a patient intelligence. After a silence, he asked, "Where are the Orcs you brought back?"
"In the prison," Aragorn answered.
"Bring them here," Kaen said, rising. "Let me see what Angmar hath brewed in six years of silence."
In the dungeon the Orc lay bound in iron to a pillar, two King's Guards standing watch. Kaen spoke, his voice low and cold in the Black Speech. "Orc, speak all that you know, and tell us what force moves within the Ettenmoors."
The Orc laughed, hoarse and defiant. "Human, you will get nothing from me. I will not betray my masters."
Kaen did not heed the bravado. He studied the creature, and then he said, "I feel Morgoth's power upon you, the taint made manifest. If that is your strength, then you shall beg before you die."
He raised a hand. The guard at the bound watched the mechanism under Kaen's gesture and turned it. A gold light mirrored along the dungeon wall, pouring forth like a blade: the radiance of the Golden Tree. It struck the Orc and the light burned as scalding water poured over flesh. The dark power within the creature recoiled, flaring and being driven out, and the Orc's screams were a terrible, raw thing as if his very soul were seared.
Kaen's voice was even. "Tell all you know, or I swear you shall burn without relief, and die not, until your torment ends."
The Orc writhed, begging between ragged cries, "Kill me, kill me!"
Kaen turned away, and to the guards he said, "If he confesses, grant him death."
He needed not to linger; the Orc broke before half a day had passed, and the secrets spilled like black rain. Kaen read over the testimony the soldiers transcribed, his brow tightening. The Dark-priests had invoked a godlike power, blessing the children of shadow. Before winter's full onset, they would bring the northern dragons south; they would ride them to drown Eowenría in ruin.
"Aragorn," Kaen called to the hall without, "send for Gandalf. Tell him I require counsel, it is urgent."
So Gandalf hurried, coming in the dusk, breath quick from his walk. "I was abroad and heard you sought me, so I hastened at once," he said while still catching his breath, "I hear you marshal troops northward, what has occurred?"
"Evil stirs in the North," Kaen said, grave, "and it grows stronger. The Ettenmoors are shrouded in that ancient malice we know, the power of Morgoth. They use it to fashion things we do not yet understand."
Gandalf's hand paused mid-reach for his pipe, and the pipe was put away. The wizard's eyes darkened with a weight Kaen had seldom seen. "When did this begin?"
"Only these few days," Kaen answered, and he set forth the tale in full. He told of the fortress, of the Cold-drakes chained and fed with black breath, of the Witch-king's malice.
"This is no petty trouble," Gandalf said at last, and his voice carried the gravity of one who has watched tides of ruin. "What would you have me do?"
"I would have you go to Rivendell," Kaen said, steady and clear. "Summon my master, call the White Council. Whatever plot is wrought in the North cannot be borne by Eowenría alone; all must be warned and must prepare."
Gandalf bowed, "At dawn I ride, and the thrush shall carry the message once the Council is called."
Kaen watched the wizard depart with a mind full of cares. He stood upon the throne's dais and looked out across the prospering city. He knew the fragile peace would not hold long. Yet he was a ruler who loathed needless war, he would spare his people what he might, and his heart yearned to keep the peace that allowed the realm to flourish.
"Is some care upon your brow, my king?" a voice asked, and fair hands drew him into an embrace. The scent that met him was gentle, and Kaen knew it was Artemis who came to him.
He answered softly, "Peace is a hard-won thing, the realm needs time to grow. I had hoped to bide and muster strength before I moved upon the Ettenmoors, but the foe proves swifter than we presumed."
Artemis asked, "Are you weary of war?"
Kaen shook his head, "I have never loved war, yet we live in a world where it will come, whether we will or not."
"What will you do?" she asked.
His gaze was calm as still water. "Find him,end him."
Artemis brushed his cheek, her voice like summer rain. "I shall be your wing, a part of your light, the sword at your side. Always….. I shall go with you."
...