[Maegaladiel]

Lhingril prowled restlessly through the dark halls of his underground maze. In one of his nastier moods, the dark wizard spoke angry words to the surrounding darkness.

"They know. They KNOW!" he spat. Everyone in Gondor knew of his betrayal to the King. As far as he could tell, his faithful assistant Barahil's role in the kidnapping remained undiscovered, but he himself had been found out. Now, for the moment, anyways, he was trapped here in his own web of tunnels. He could not leave these caverns until it was time for the final assault on Gondor, when he could steal the throne for himself. If he left too early, he ran the risk of being captured by some idiot guard.

A rat scurried across Lhingril's path. Baring his teeth, the wizard kicked the unfortunate creature, sending it flying down the hallways into the darkness ahead of him. It landed somewhere to his left with a disgruntled squeal.

He had kept King Aragorn drugged ever since his kidnapping to prevent Lady Arwen from locating him mentally, but he still feared that the resourceful Queen would discover another way to find her husband.

Soon, however, no one--not even the Queen and Prince Imharil combined--would be able to stop him from becoming King of Minias Tirith. In the matter of a few days, a week at most, Lhingril's spider army would be old and strong enough to destroy any opposition Gondor tried to place against him. He would be invincible!

A dark smile crossed his face as the thought entered his mind. King Lhingril. It did have a nice ring to it.

The rat squealed once more as a spider pounced on it. Its last cry was abrubtly silenced as Lhingril's 'children' began to feed.