[The Perky Ent]

The red sun raised slowly from the endless horizon. A magnificent display of ruby, saphire, and magenta danced around the sun in such a way that gave awe to Arathorn. "Now that," Elladan said, "Is something you can only see up here. In the cold places of the north. Slowly, one by one, everyone began to wake up. And after they woak, they sat and looked at the sun. Then, after a while of watching, the sun took a breath, and lifted up from the horizon, shining great beams of light, reflecting on the men.

"Well men," Arathorn said, though pausing, as Eldin gave a grunt. "And elves!" Arathorn corrected. "We're going in! To mystery and glory! What mysteries lie here we do not know, but I know that there are many. This is why I call for an act of seperation. You elves will go up to the towers and see what is there. No doubt many secrets...and treasures." A murmer passed through the elves. "Us men," Arathorn continued, "We will go down into the dungeons." There was a mixed reaction throughout the group: elves and men. "What!" Elrohir shouted! "You get to find the real adventure all by yourselves?" "There is too much danger Arathorn! This is madness!" said Paladir. "It is what it is! It may be danger, but what glory has been taken without danger?" Arathorn said fiercly. There was silence. "Then it's decided. We're going in!" said Hanindur.

Standing in front of the gate, the men felt acquard. It wasn't in as good a shape as it was when the place was inhabited. What was once a great, thick, strong door, was now a rancid decaying hunk with cracks in it. "Time to break it open!" Owacyn said. "Not exactly." Arathorn said. "There's a crack large enough to crall through over there." Arathorn said, pointing to a small hole at the bottom of the gate. Owacyn began to blush. "Well...well...well where's the adventure in that." Owacyn said, charging up to the hole. Shocking everyone, Owacyn took his sword and began swiping his sword just above the crack, making it bigger. In a few moments, he had made a small door. "See! Now we don't have to crawl!" Owacyn said, drawing a breath. "Very heroic" Arathorn said sarcastically, walking into Angmar.

Inside, everything was dark, with the exception of the light from the "door", and two torches. "I don't like this" Hanindur said, taking a step back. Eldin looked at him as if he was looking at a monkey, and grabbed a torch. "What a nice coincidence!" Arathorn said, taking a torch. "Well, let's get going! It looks like there's a stairway past that hall! Let's go." Arathorn said, walking slowly into darkness.

The dark, high ceilings were starting to get to the men. Suddenly, they heard a scream. Though, none of them were screaming. "Calm down men!" Arathorn said. "The place is old! It squeaks!" "It came from outside!" Elladan said, rushing back to the "door". Outside, there was nothing. "See, nothing!" Arathorn said, starting to go back inside. Suddenly, something hit Eldin very hard. He nugged Elrohir, and then he too realized. "Exactly." Elrohir said, softly. "Nothing. There's nothing here, or anywhere. This is bad!" "What?" Arathorn said. "Of course there's nothing here! We're in the middle of a deserted kingdom. There hasn't been anyone here for centuries!" "You don't get it!" Elrohir said, once again softly. "I know where the scream came from. Our horses are missing."

Arathorn was mentally hit with a ton of bricks. He looked all around, but the horses weren't anywhere. "No horse, not even of Rohan, could get beyond the horizon that fast. Something is wrong." Arathorn said, looking at everyones mildly scared faces. "We should run now! Go back!" Owacyn said. "No. If something did take the horses, the could take us. We're safer inside...for the moment" Elladan said, walking back inside. The others followed.

Comming to the stairs, everyone took a gulp. Two great black stairs were stretching for what seemed miles. "Well, I'll be seeing you!" Arathorn said, going down. The others followed, except for the elves. Once the men had passed beyond light, Elladan, Elrohir, and Eldin stopped going up. Waiting for a minute, Elladan signaled Eldin, and they, with Elrohir, began to take the stairs not up, but down.