As Faramir said, the cave was deeper than expected. The winding stone path effectively isolated the brilliant dragon flames, and most of the people inside were not affected.
Only the unlucky ones near the cave entrance heard the warning of the enemy attack, picked up their swords and clubs, cursed and prepared to resist. But what they didn't expect was a blazing torrent of molten iron and gold. As a result, these bad guys with pus were immediately burned into balls of fire by the dragon flames.
Hearing the miserable wails of their companions and the bright fire, almost no one dared to rush out. They didn't understand what was happening. Many people want to escape, but there is only one passage in the cave - these hooligans, gangsters, thugs, and highwaymen are not dwarves, and they do not have such superb skills to get through both ends of the mountain.
"Drop your weapons and come out." Nolatu said loudly, his majestic voice echoing in the deep cave. "In the name of Elpera, he who surrenders shall not die."
His brother stood by his side with a sword, which was more convincing than words.
"It's the Silver King!" someone said in fear.
"Idiot, that big shot won't come to a country like Bree to cause trouble for us." A gloomy voice sounded from the darkness. He tried to stir up the crowd and encourage these timid guys to rush out and fight, saying that the flames just happened It's just an attacker's trick, like the fireworks of a wandering wizard.
"Maybe I can kill him with one arrow." Faramir walked up to the two princes, the look of shock still on his face.
"He is hiding behind the stone path, and your bow and arrow cannot bend." Aratu frowned, feeling a little impatient with these guys' stubborn resistance. "And he may be the enemy's leader, and we need his information."
"It is not wise to fight in a small tunnel, Your Highness." Boromir also walked over and reminded him kindly. "Although they are incompetent guys, there are so many of them, and the sharp arrows in the dark can easily kill the warriors."
Nolatu glanced at the deep cave. The light of torches and flames pulled the tunnel deeper, and the sharpness from the dragonborn and elves directly saw through the shadows there.
"Maybe we don't need to go in." He looked at his brother.
Aratu thought for a moment and nodded.
Boromir and Faramir were confused. But what happened next allowed the former Prince of Gondor to see another power of the legendary Dragonborn.
"He just wants you to die." Nolatu's voice became softer and full of magic. When he spoke, the flames in the cave even became smaller.
"But you don't have to do this." Aratu's voice was even more amazing than his brother's. Almost everyone who heard him couldn't help but want to stop and listen, couldn't help but want to echo, anything that went against this voice They all looked so sinful, but when I thought about it carefully, I didn't know what the voice said.
"Think about it, you have worked so hard and hard, isn't it to make your small lives live better in the future? But if you lose your life because of this, it's not worth it."
The people inside suddenly fell silent, seeming to be thinking, and seemed to be spellbound by the brothers' voices. They were listening and struggling.
"No, they are lying, you can't listen to him." The first voice shouted in panic. Because he was not the object of these voices, but the target, he only felt full of malice.
"Quiet!" Nolatu narrowed his eyes and his voice became high-pitched. He said: "Foolish person, am I not saving you? From the shadow of evil and terror. Do you think that the master behind you will Will I protect you forever? When you have done so many evil things and your hands are stained with the blood of innocent people, your name has already been written on the doomsday list! When the final moment comes, you will face the judgment of the gods."
This angry voice made the stubborn resister feel extremely frightened. He shivered, as if he really saw the judgment from the gods.
No more deceptive words can be uttered.
But he still refused to give in. He just hid inside and refused to come out.
Seeing this, Aratu's voice, as sweet as music, sounded at the right time, as if he was sincerely thinking about him: "But if you can find your way back, the gods will also be happy. So will the rest of you. Wake up, ignorant Yes, deceived people, you are used as cannon fodder by the evil to fight and disobey the gods. Isn't this an extremely terrifying thing? Wake up, you can still be saved, as long as you drop your weapons , come out, the gods will see your repentance."
Many people were shaken. Because what they heard was a benevolent king earnestly admonishing an erring favor, and they were like naughty children or stupid servants, eavesdropping on the elusive conversations of their elders at the door, and worrying about their own fate. What kind of impact will it have? The most important thing is that the weird stench and meaty aroma permeating the entrance of the cave are more convincing than any words.
The villains became timid and began to whisper, fear and uneasiness filling the entire cave.
Boromir and Faramir almost couldn't help but drop their weapons too. They looked at each other and used great willpower to suppress the magical voice in their heads.
"I...I surrender." In the cave, someone finally couldn't resist the twins' magical voice and the fear in his heart. He dropped the weapon in his hand and ran out screaming: "Don't kill me, I didn't kill him." people."
"No!" The voice that initially tried to incite the crowd to resist Alatu and the others suddenly woke up. He shouted in horror: "Don't believe them, their whole family is a liar."
"Now." Aratu's melodious voice, like music, became majestic and like thunder in the sky. It shook the rocks above the deep cave and kept falling. The sound was amplified countless times and almost deafened the ears of the people inside. All are deaf: "Catch those who dare to disobey the voice of the king. I, the son of Turka Aracano, Aratou Aracano, will forgive you!"
There was silence in the cave, and then the clamor of hope and the cry of despair sounded almost simultaneously.
Boromir and Faramir couldn't help but take a step back, looking at the twins with awe in their eyes.
When this farce came to an end, only more than thirty people from the originally nearly a hundred-strong band of thieves survived. Nearly thirty of them died at the hands of their own people. The rest either died from the dragon flames fired by Aratu at the beginning, or in the end, they still resisted regardless of life and death, only to be beheaded by Boromir without hesitation.
"Caledorion forgave you, but I didn't say it." The former Crown Prince of Gondor told them: "I am not a retainer of Turka Aracano, and I do not need to obey the laws of the Kingdom of Elpera. Law!"
In this regard, neither Alatu nor Noratu said anything.
"Now." Aratu took off the hood on his head, stood in front of a guy with sinister eyes and a rebellious face, and asked in an unquestionable tone: "Tell me, who is the mastermind behind your scenes?" He is The leader of this group of gangsters, thugs, and murderers.
It was he who had been trying to provoke these hateful guys to challenge the young dragonborn.
He was a head taller than the Brees and was fierce and powerful. When his men were controlled by the twins' magical voices, he even killed several of his old companions when they rebelled.
"He is a black Númenor from the south." Faramir looked at the other person's slightly darker skin color and was a little surprised.
As a result, this guy spat at him disdainfully, "The lackey of the gods."
"enough."
Aratu's eyes changed from ordinary black at the beginning to golden, as charming and dangerous as amber under the starlight, "Tell me what you know, and I will give you freedom."
The bandit leader wanted to turn his head, but found that he could not control his body. He looked steadily at the magical eyes of the son of the silver king, and couldn't help but replied: "I am influenced by Kohamul, the mysterious black knight, and the terrifying The order of the knight, one of the nine kings, was to create chaos and spread fear near human towns in the north. One day ago, the black knight came to me and said that the master's enemies had set out from the Shire, and asked me to intercept and kill the hobbit here. But the guy who went to Bree yesterday came back and reported that he found several humans speaking Elvish, so the Black Knight left overnight. I don’t know where he went, and I don’t dare to ask.”
Nolatu asked: "Who is your master? Where is he?"
This fierce and unruly black Númenórean immediately struggled, looking at the twins with extreme fear and uneasiness in his eyes. In addition, a certain force also prevented him from betraying his real master behind the scenes. This force was so powerful that the still immature Aratu could not compete with it for the time being.
"You should never resist my master. He is darkness, he is death, and he is the real master of this land!" The enemy broke free from Aratu's control and shouted, but was kicked over by Boromir. The sharp blade in his hand was pressed against his throat to suppress him.
"Don't think we don't know that your master is Sauron!" Boromir said through gritted teeth, and the cold sword even cut the enemy's throat.
But the enemy was not afraid at all. Instead, he smiled ferociously and said: "Son of Denethor, do you think you can intimidate me? My master is more powerful than you. You are just a poor lost dog in front of him! The power of your family It’s just a joke. Your city and your people will be in flames sooner or later! In fact, he did it.”
He shouted to the sons of the Silver King: "Your world will be destroyed, and our time is coming!"
"But you can't see it anymore." Aratu cut off his head with a sword. Boromir was surprised and let go of the headless body to avoid being stained by the gushing blood.
The prisoners nearby were trembling.
"You promised to give him freedom." Nolatu said in confusion, looking at the ferocious head that was still staring at death.
His brother put the still smooth Alan Rusi back into the scabbard: "I freed him from the burden of this world, and he is free."
"But he has more information." Nolatu frowned.
"His heart has long been controlled by fear, and he will not tell more valuable information. Moreover, I think he has answered your question." Aratu looked at the Boromir brothers thoughtfully, and then moved Open your eyes. He looked south. "Now, we have more important things to do."
So Boromir and Faramir temporarily separated from the twins, because they wanted to bring the remaining captives to Bree to face trial. Maybe they will be thrown into prison and spend the rest of their lives as prisoners, or maybe they will be secretly released. But in any case, Aratu promised that they would do it.
Instead of killing them, he gave them a chance. As for whether they would cherish it or not, Aratu wouldn't care.
The twins took advantage of the darkness and ran quickly in the wild almost without stopping. They were like two nimble deer, running quickly through the forest, climbing long hillsides one after another, running outside the fence of Bree, crossing the narrow valley and countryside, and heading straight to the ancient tomb hills in the south. .
They ran so fast that if Boromir and the others were still there, they would not be able to keep up with the twins. They saw the waxing moon climbing up to the western sky, and all the stars appeared in the sky, illuminating their way forward.
The wind whistled beside their pointed ears, and the shadow of the earth continued to pass behind them.
"Look." Aratu pointed to the long shadow on the horizon and said to his brother: "That's the Ancient Tomb Hill. I saw it on the map in my father's study."
At this time, the eastern sky began to turn white, the stars faded, and the gray sky was slowly brightening.
Nolatu raised his eyes and looked into the distance, only to find that the mountains to the west were shrouded in large ominous black clouds and white fog, and some evil force filled the entire hills.
He said: "We arrived late and they were ambushed by the enemy. I hope some of them survived."
Aratu said: "Wizards are not simple people. My father has a high opinion of them. I believe Lord Mithrandir must have a way to escape from that situation."
"I have confidence in Lord Mithrandir, but our enemies should not be underestimated. The most important thing is that they also include weak hobbits. They are not powerful warriors." Noratu said .
"Then we should step up our actions." Alatu said.
They followed the path and moved forward quickly. The dragonborn's physique made the brothers energetic, regardless of running all night, and the elves' blood allowed them to fully control the power of every muscle in the body, allowing them to use their power more rationally.
They passed like the wind through the desolate wilderness between Guzhong Hill and the North-South Avenue, and rushed into the desolate and deep Guzhong Hill. The thick fog and shadows that filled the mountain stream could not hinder them in the slightest. The blood they inherited has the ability to see through all the fog.
But they have also become cautious. Because since the two brothers entered this mountainous area shrouded in fog and shadow, a certain cold force appeared vaguely around them.
"I don't like it here. The smell of death here is so strong, as if the dead crawled out of their graves." Nolatu drew out the sword Ringir. The slender sword body, which was as smooth as water, immediately emitted glistening starlight, illuminating the surrounding fog like the Milky Way in the sky.
"This is one of the ancient battlefields. The Númenóreans fought many battles here, and the nearby hills and plains were littered with corpses." Aratu pulled out his sword Aranrus, and blue and red flames bloomed. It appeared, dispersing the shadow over a large area.
"I remember my father said that there might be a corpse demon nearby."
They carefully searched a large area of the ground nearby, but found no traces of a fight. So the brothers moved on.
Suddenly, Aratu and Nolatu stopped at the same time.
I saw a blazing light suddenly erupting at the other end of the valley.
