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By the time Khaműl arrived at the mansion of the Lord Korak it was already ablaze. The servants had been dragged forth and killed by the orcs, and only the family remained alive. The old woman shivered in the night air and in her terror. Before her, confused and afraid was Korak himself. He had been called from his bed and was hastily dressed in a cloak and boots. As he saw the form of the Nazgűl rise up before him his face became ashen and his limbs shook. He tried to speak but the words would not come.
Khaműl’s laughter was as flesh being torn from the bone, and the old woman fell to the ground at the noise. Korak bent to help her but the orcs restrained him, and laughed at her weakness where she lay. “Lord Korak,” Khaműl hissed at him from within the folds of his robes. “You do not recognise me. I am your King and father-in-law.”
The Lord’s eyes went wide. “Faroz?”
“No,” he hissed in return. “Khaműl. I belong to the lord Sauron now, as does this land. You do not know Him yet, but you will, soon. Yes, all shall know Him soon.”
“I…I don’t understand,” the man stuttered.
“Then die in ignorance,” and the wraith raised his sword above his head, and it glittered in the firelight as though it were itself aflame. But Korak did not quail or look away. Finding some reserve of strength and courage in him yet, he held his back rigid and stared into the empty space where he deemed the wraith’s eyes would be. A company of orcs ran up, dragging along with them the shackled form of the Lady Arshalous. Khaműl stayed his hand, a new idea forming in his mind. His children had not been found here, as he had supposed. He would need to contain them, and the High Priestess, quickly – before they could spread the contagion of their disloyalty amongst the disaffected officers of his Army. The orcs were in control of the City, but beyond its walls the army of Men was encamped.
He lowered his weapon and gazed upon his son-in-law and the lady that was to have been his wife. Their eyes fell toward the ground as he bent the terror of his will upon them. “Bring them to the temple,” he ordered. They moved through the streets quickly, the Lord and Lady seeing about them scenes of monstrous cruelty the likes of which had never even intruded into their imaginations for they passed near to the quarter of the City that had been set aside for the Avari. Not an Elf remained alive, that they could see, but for those which were being kept alive for the depraved pleasure of their tormentors. The buildings were all aflame and there was about the scene a terrible silence that was worse than any scream of agony.
They soon reached the square which lay before the temple, where they found the High Priest Tarkan awaiting the return of Khaműl in chains. He ordered that they be chained together and made to stand before a hastily erected gallows. As this was being done a party of orcs arrived from the Palace, bearing with them a hideous cargo. They handed three horribly mutilated shapes to their lord and as he seized them he seemed to grow in size and malevolence, until the very ground seemed to crawl in revulsion of his touch. He turned to the prisoners and threw the things at their feet, and though the prisoners looked immediately away it was not in time to avoid seeing what their King had done. At their feet, blackened with violence and terror, their features distorted by agony, were the heads of the General Morgós, his wife Arlome, and of their son Evrathol.
He spoke to them then. “You have all conspired against me and will suffer the doom of death for that. But your passing can be quick. Tell me where your allies are and I shall order the orcs to place you upon that gallows now where your agony will be brief. Obey me, and this boon I shall grant you. Deny me and I shall give you to the orcs for their playthings. They shall keep you alive for weeks, months…and in the end you will plead for death. And when you do, you shall be brought before me, and I will strip you of your mortal flesh until all that remains is your cold and naked spirit, howling in the wind of my fury.”
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