Hivras had been sitting near the Falls of Rauros the whole afternoon, leaning his back against the cliff. He was staring at a huge head from a collapsed statue of some mannish king lying in the river below a waterfall. Hivras thought about the man of Rohan who had visited Amon Hen yesterday. Dargum from Durthang had told him not to hurt the man at Amon Hen, but nobody had said anything about men of Rohan. True enough, Dargum had also told him to avoid killing anyone ’unless absolutely necessary’, but that was a matter of interpretation. Hivras had killed the mannish sow because it had felt absolutely necessary at the time. She had been right there, alone, and Hivras had felt a strong urge to hurt her. The urge had been too strong for him to resist.
And then there had been the dwarf. Dargum had said to kill any dwarf in the Drúadan Forest, but he had not said anything about dwarves at Amon Hen. So Hivras had made a judgment call and killed the dwarf as well. It was getting too boring out here without anyone to hurt or kill. Dargum should have been more precise with his instructions if he had not intended for Hivras to kill all dwarves he found around Amon Hen too.
When the sun had passed its zenith and was sinking towards the western horizon he heard faint noise of gravel crunching under boots. The suddenness of the noise startled him. He crawled behind a boulder and nocked his bow. A dark silhouette appeared from the mists above Parth Galen. Hivras drew his bow and aimed at the silhouette. It stopped walking and looked around, as if sensing the presence of imminent death.
”Broshan, sharbtur ob Mordor”, said the silhouette in Black Speech. ”Jiak ukenuke avhaav lat ayh katu. Jiak saib marr-ora lat.”
Hivras lowered his bow and stood up slowly. He spat on the ground.
”Jiak kij nar sharbtur lat, krumab”, he replied.
The silhouette came closer until Hivras could see it clearly. It was a tall, pale, big-boned man with black hair and piercing grey eyes, clad in a black fur-lined cloak.
”I am Tarîkbên”, said the man in a haughty, arrogant voice. ”I trust that you were told to expect me?”
”There was some talk about coin”, Hivras rasped, licking his lipless mouth with his long, black tongue.
Tarîkbên produced a small pouch from the folds of his cloak and tossed it at Hivras. The orc snatched the pouch from the air, opened it and peered inside, smacking his mouth.
”Has everything gone according to the plan?” Tarîkbên asked. ”You haven’t drawn any attention to yourself, have you? You have been keeping a low profile and not killed anyone?”
”Well, I did kill a mannish sow”, Hivras admitted. ”And a dwarf. Gutted them both too.”
”You did what?”
”A woman of the village ten miles west of here. She was walking alone in a meadow. Nobody saw me do it. Nobody heard her screams.”
”You were not supposed to kill anyone! You were not supposed to draw attention!”
”I have done my part. I came here. I have waited for you. I haven’t touched the man in the ruins. I don’t need to listen to your…”
”But you killed someone. A woman of Rohan. Why?”
”Because I had to”, Hivras hissed through his sharpened, yellowish-brown teeth. ”It’s none of your business why.”
Tarîkbên stared at Hivras. The orc was skinny and shorter than average, but in spite of his slight build there was something truly terrifying and monstrous about Hivras. His chinless, dark-skinned face was like a skull – hollow and cadaverous cheeks, dark eyes sunken deep in their sockets. Suddenly Tarîkbên realized that Hivras hated females – all females of all races with such dark passion Tarîkbên could not understand it. What kind of twisted upbringing, Tarîkbên wondered, could have produced such a vile and hateful creature, even by orcish standards? And why had they chosen this particular specimen for this mission? The orc seemed dangerously out of control.
”Anything else I should know about?” Tarîkbên asked. ”You mentioned something about dwarves?”
”Yes”, said Hivras. ”A dwarf came to see the man at Amon Hen a couple of days ago. Dargum said nothing about no dwarves at Amon Hen, but he told me to kill all dwarves I found at the Drúadan Forest, or something along those lines. So I killed the dwarf here as well. And then I gutted him, just like I had gutted the sow.”
Tarîkbên frowned. ”That’s odd. What would a dwarf be doing here, visiting Amon Hen? And what was it that you said about the Drúadan Forest?”
”I went to the forest on my way here like Dargum said. I ambushed the dwarf but let the woman pass unharmed. Killed the dwarf with a poison arrow. My own special concoction.”
Tarîkbên blinked his eyes a few times in rapid succession. Hivras noticed it and sneered.
”Looks like your masters are keeping you in the dark as well”, the orc mocked. ”I guess there are parts in the plot they felt like you ’didn’t need to know’.” Hivras cackled. ”They will probably screw you up later as you fumble in the dark, blindly following orders like the common errand boy that you are.”
The orc’s words stung deeply because they rang true. Tarîkbên had clearly been left in the dark as there had been no mention about any dwarves or more people coming from Gondor. He tried his best to conceal his disappointment from showing in his face as he said:
”Anything else I should know about?”
”Well, the Gondorian sow is here now. Only she didn’t come here alone. She came with yet another dwarf. But this one did not accompany her in the Drúadan Forest, I’m sure of it. It’s not my fault if I’m given faulty information. I killed the dwarf in the Drúadan Forest like I was told to do. There was no mention of any more dwarves. And now the whole damn Rohan is teeming with them.”
Tarîkbên clenched his fists. ”And where are they now?”
Hivras shrugged. ”How should I know? I spotted them in the morning on the ravine from Rohan with two small horses on tow. As far as I know they’re both at Amon Hen by now. So what do you want me to do, errand boy? Should I kill this dwarf too?”
Tarîkbên rubbed at his right temple with his index finger. He had not been informed about this part of the plan and he had no idea of what was going on. He was, as the orc had said, fumbling blindly in the dark.
”Yes”, he finally said, ”but only if you can do it from a distance and without being seen by anyone. Do not kill anyone else without consulting with me first!”
”And the sow?”
Tarîkbên shook his head. ”She must be here for a reason. Leave her be!”
”We’ll see”, Hivras said. ”Nobody tells me what to do, errand boy!”
”Don’t push it!”
Hivras was silent. He walked a circle around the robust Black Númenórean. ”What do you want from me?” Hivras sounded tired, but it was not because of the murders. The murders had invigorated him. It was the endless talk and vague threats that tired him. A bleak smile spread on the orc’s dark face.
”If you can kill the dwarf when he’s alone, I want you to carve the mark of Sauron on his body”, Tarîkbên said. ”I want you to make it look like the servants of Sauron are chasing us, do you understand?”
”Yes. And then?”
”Then you follow us, but remain hidden. There is one more dwarf with me. Very old and skinny, frail and weak. A slave from Sauron’s mines, a long-timer. You know what they end up looking like if they live long enough. Bald, white beard. I want you to kill him too, but not right away. The man at Amon Hen will escort us to Gondor, and I guess the woman will join us too. The dwarf must die on the way there, before we reach any major settlements. But just the dwarf, do you understand? The man and the woman must reach Gondor safely with me. After you have killed the old dwarf your part will be over. Then you can disappear and go wherever you want.”
”You guys keep springing up more dwarves for me to kill, one after another.” Hivras shrugged. ”But who cares? I hate this place. I’ll be happy to get out of here. The sooner the better.”
”You should not have killed the woman of Rohan. It could have complicated matters.”
”Shut your trap, errand boy. I’m not like those boot-licking worms in Udûn you can boss around like wargs. I’ll kill whomever I want, whenever I want to!”
”Just stick to the plan from now on”, the Black Númenórean said, pulling up his hood. ”Just stick to the plan!”
