Chapter 843: The appearance of the Nazgûl
Translator: Translation Nation Editor: Translation Nation
Sheyan took a look around with Melody. The old guide followed along and would occasionally point out spots where famous historical battles had occured. Sheyan was shocked to discover that as many as 4 kings had fallen at a place as small as Weathertop. It was also a place both the Middle Earth alliance and the Dark Lord faction have been clashing over for several hundred years! Numerous warriors met their death in this land. No wonder there were evil spirits here.
Once the caravan's animals rested after tiring themselves out, they would need 2-3 hours to completely recover their stamina. If they didn't, and they were forcefully put to work again, they would face a major risk of getting injured. That was why any caravan that reached Weathertop after 12 o'clock at noon would usually stay here for the night. It would already be 3-4 o'clock in the afternoon after the beasts regain their strength. They wouldn't be able to travel much further this day.
Suddenly, a worker from the caravan rushed over and shouted in alarm.
"This is bad! Our pack horses went wild and ran away!"
The old guide was horrified and immediately rushed back. Under such circumstances, there was no way Sheyan and his gang could continue their sight-seeing tour, so they hurried back as well. They discovered the resting place of the packing horses in a complete mess. The piled goods had been trampled over into disarray. A horrifying trail of blood was left on the ground.
They asked around and found out that the trail of blood was left by a worker who tried to pacify one of the raging horses. He pulled on its reins, only to be dragged for 7-8 meters before he hit a boulder. His injury may be fatal.
The pack horses had been tamed for a long time. They had always displayed a mild temperament so it was strange for them to go berserk all of a sudden. The boss of the caravan, Goots, was at the foot of Weathertop looking after the other half of the caravan goods, so it was left to the old guide to take charge. The situation was chaotic. Some of the workers went after the horses, some stayed back to look after the injured, some tidied up the goods....
Sheyan felt that there was no way the pack horses would go wild for no reason. He contemplated for a while and placed his suspicions on the food consumed by the horses. The straws and salts were brought by the caravan themselves so they should have no problems. Sheyan took a look at the spring. The water looked cool and clear, and didn't seem to be poisoned. More importantly, the people drank the water too but they were all fine.
That means.... Sheyan strode over to the resting spots of the packhorses. The workers taking care of the horses had led them to a slope on the side because the grasses there were relatively more abundant. Melody walked over together with Sheyan. As soon as she got near, she told Sheyan that the place made her feel very uncomfortable; even the plants on the ground seemed to contain a certain madness.
Sheyan's brows furrowed when he inspected the spot grazed by the packhorses. He found the soil to be fresh. He immediately took an iron shovel and dug hard at the spot. Under Sheyan's furious digging, a hole quickly emerged on the ground to reveal a pale, half-rotting hand!
The other caravan workers ran over with horrified expressions. In total, Sheyan dug up 16 corpses! Half of these corpses hadn't even started rotting yet. The caravan workers easily identified them as members of other caravans. They had feasted with them and flirted with the barmaids together only a few months ago!
A feeling of immense horror spread among the spectating caravan members. But right then, the old guide approached the corpses with a solemn look and inspected the bodies with not a care for the horrible stench they emitted. After a while, he spoke.
"They all have cuts on their bodies, but they have the same cause of death - poison! The poison in the bodies seeped into the soil, and into the grass growing on the soil. When the horses grazed on this grass, it caused them to go berserk."
The words of the old guide at least calmed the caravan members down. They approached slowly and saw for themselves that the faces of the corpses were indeed tinged with black, and their expressions showed they struggled in pain when they died. It really did look like a death from poisoning.
There were many dangers facing the caravans on Middle Earth. The members of the caravans were elites in both courage and ability. What they were afraid of was the mysterious forces that they couldn't defend against. When they found out that the corpses merely died from poisoning, they naturally regained their courage.
Sheyan remained silent at the side as if in agreement with the old guide's opinion. At that moment, someone brought the raging pack horses back. The rest of the caravan workers went over to help. However, the old guide walked over to Sheyan with his brows furrowed and spoke to Sheyan as if he had something heavy on his heart.
"Thank you."
The guide was evidently thanking Sheyan for not exposing some of the untruthfulness in his words. Sheyan exhaled a deep breath, and said.
"If we don't leave immediately, we will meet with great peril."
The old guide's face was pale. He wasn't lying when he said that the people they dug up had died from poisoning, but how did they get poisoned? Normally, it would either be because they consumed the poison, or the weapons that cut them were coated with poison. Unfortunately those were not the cause of their poisoning. The real cause was because they breathed in poisonous gas!
If Sheyan remembered correctly, it should be the special ability of the Nazgûls, the 'Black Breath'. According to the records kept by the Elves, The Nazgûls' arsenal of deadly armaments was not confined to physical means. They were surrounded by a general aura of terror which can spread fear in the hearts of living creatures (except for some extremely strong ones), and their breath (called the Black Breath) could be toxic to those hapless enough to come near them.
Those that have been touched by the Black Breath will fall into an state of helplessness and experience endless nightmare and hallucination. It could even cause death. Only a type of herb called athelas could fight the symptom.
It seemed like the attack on Gandalf the Grey at Weathertop was not a coincidence. The Dark Lord might have once again set his sight on this strategic location and had begun to move his pieces. He probably wanted to hide an army of undead here to strike at Rhudaur, Cardolan and The Shire at crucial moments!
Goots had received news and rushed back. When he heard what they had to say, he said decisively.
"What are we waiting for, then? Leave all the goods behind, we will set off at once! Our Dwarven friends have tasked us with taking care of you, so your safety is our top priority."
Sheyan couldn't help but have a high evaluation of Goots in his heart. Merchants have always operated for profit, but Goots was able to decisively abandon all his merchandise. His action may even bankrupt him but he showed no hesitation. Sheyan nodded his head and said.
"Then let us depart at once. However, there is a problem. All your packhorses might have been found, but they are probably in a berserk state. We can't ride them anymore."
"We will put them all to death!" said Goots with a wave of his hand. "Then, we will leave at once."
Four hours later.
All of them were gasping for breath in exhaustion.
In a mere 4 hours, the lightened caravan had reached a place that was at least 50 km from Weathertop. All the caravan members could feel the mysterious atmosphere in Weathertop, so they showed no objection to the order of their boss to abandon all merchandises so that they can travel faster.
Darkness fell. They were all extremely tired. Even though the caravan team was used to hardship in their travels, but they truly pushed themselves to the limit this time to run so far away in such short period. They found a place to take shelter from the wind, raised a bonfire and gulped down their dinner. Goots was also eating his share with huge mouthfuls and drinking heartily, but it couldn't mask his sorrow.
It was to be expected. It's impossible to remain indifferent as a person watched his career crumble in the blink of an eye.
However, after they have rested for about an hour, Melody's pretty face broke into a frown. She grabbed onto Sheyan and told him in a serious tone.
"I can feel a strong evil presence slowly getting close to us."
Sheyan smiled at her and said.
"Don't worry, I'm here by your side."
Melody cheerfully kissed him and said.
"I've waited for a long time to fight alongside you."
As she said that, she forked out her staff and chanted some natural spells. Of course, the chanting was only for show. She was a Twilight Elf in possession of Vilya, and her spells were of the support type. Therefore, all her spells could be instant-cast. However, she was playing the role of a human mage, so she must put on an act.
"Bull's Strength."
"Barkskin."
"Haste."
A series of group buffs were received by every person present, accompanied by flashes of green lights. However, only Reef and Sheyan were qualified to receive the Twilight Elf's blessings.
After that, Melody completed her performance by taking out a scroll. The scroll was actually nonfunctional. She chanted a short incantation before tearing the scroll up. 2 rays of light burst forth from her hand towards two big trees in front of them.
The two trees shook themselves, then stood up. Their branches bunched up together to shape themselves into tier-2 legendary Ents. These Ents were summoned puppets with a time limit. Their strength were naturally far below battle Ents like Ferrell.
Right at this moment, clear sound of hooves resounded from the distance. The hooves were obviously stepping on the ground, but they somehow sounded as if they were crushing human bones.
After that, a large skeleton army appeared from the darkness! Behind the army was a tall, horrifying silhouette that was riding on a Nightmare!
The Nazgûl that had chased Sheyan's group throughout the night finally caught up to them!