“So, this means… there is no way out?” Haladdin asked quietly.
“There is one. So far, there is. The only way to save Middle Earth is to completely isolate it from the magical world. To do that, Galadriel’s Mirror must be destroyed.”
“Can we do it?” the doctor shook his head dubiously.
“We – if you mean the Nazgúl – can not. Not any more. But you, Field Medic Second Class Haladdin, can. You, and no other,” unearthly cold wafted at him from Sharya-Rana’s pointing arm, “are capable of shattering the very foundation of the Elves’ magical power and preserving this world as it is.”
Chapter 17
Silence fell. Stupefied, Haladdin stared at the nazgúl, awaiting clarification.
“Yes, you’ve heard right, doctor. You see, right now, all across Mordor, hundreds of wonderful people – including your Sonya – are carrying out our common task. They fight as guerillas, transport children to safe places, set up secret repositories of knowledge for the future… They risk their lives every hour in the ruins of Barad-Dur, abase themselves in occupation administration, die under torture. They do everything humanly possible, not thinking of themselves and not expecting any gratitude from anyone. But it is up to you, Haladdin – you alone! – to determine whether all these sacrifices will be a down payment on a victory or merely an extension of agony. I would love to relieve you of this terrible burden, but I can’t. It’s yours; so it comes out.”
“No, this has to be some kind of mistake!” He shook his head vigorously in protest. “Something got confused somewhere. You say ‘shatter the Elvish magic’, but I don’t know the first thing about magic! I have never had any talent for magic; I can’t do even the simplest trick – find a hidden object with a frame.”
“You don’t even know how right you are! A complete lack of any magical ability such as yours is incredibly rare and almost impossible. You see, Nature had deprived you of a sword, but gave you a wonderful shield instead: a man who is totally incapable of magic is also totally immune to others’ magic. The Elves are in such power now that they can easily wipe out any wizard, but they’ll have to deal with you by the rules of the rational world, where your chances are more equal. Plus this tendency of yours towards unpredictable emotional decisions is also no walk in the park… Frankly, the chances of success are very small, but in all other alternatives there are none.”
“But please see that I can’t do work that I don’t understand!” He was in despair. “That I’ll die is not such a big deal, but to doom the efforts of so many people? No, I can’t! Besides – you’ve just said that Sonya is safe and I can take her to Umbar, and now it seems like she’s working for you, too? How so?”
“Don’t worry about Sonya, she’s splendid. I saw her in Barad-Dur back then. The city burned for several days straight, the Men of the West couldn’t even enter it, and there were numerous people in the basements – the children, the wounded… She was searching for people under the ruins and did totally impossible things sometimes. You must know she has this gift of absolute fearlessness; she can be afraid for someone else, but never for herself. By the way, have you noticed that women have this gift incomparably more often than men? Understand this: nothing can happen to a person who is not afraid; it is not for naught that her medical squad considers her a living talisman. This is real ancient magic, not some cheap spell, please trust a professional. She is now in one of our hideouts in the Ash Mountains – thirty-six children and Mama Sonya. That place is as safe as can be.”
“Thank you.”
“Not at all, she’s in her rightful place. Listen, Haladdin, I think I’ve scared you too much with all this talk. Don’t look so downcast! Please summon your healthy cynicism and look at this business as a purely scientific, theoretical challenge. A mental exercise, you know – putting together a puzzle.”
“You should know,” Haladdin responded gloomily, “that a scientist won’t lift a finger until he’s certain that he has all pieces of the puzzle and that it actually has a solution. Searching a dark room for a black cat that’s not even there is not for us, that’s philosophers’ business.”
“I can reassure you that there definitely is a cat in our dark room, the problem is how to catch it. Here, then, is the puzzle. Given: a large magical crystal, code name ‘Mirror,’ located smack in the middle of the Enchanted Forest, in Lórien, at Elf Queen Galadriel’s. Problem: to destroy said crystal. Care to give it a try?”
“Parameters of this crystal?” Haladdin joined the game without much desire.
“Ask away!”
“Eh… Well, to begin with: shape, size, weight?”
“It is shaped like a lens. Dimensions: one-and-a-half yards in diameter and a foot thick. Weight: about a thousand pounds, not for one man to lift. Besides, it mostly likely has a metal setting.”
“All right… Mechanical strength?”
“Absolute, just like that of the palantíri.”
“What do you mean – ‘absolute’?”
“I mean literally absolute – impossible to break.”
“Whoa! Then how?..”
“This information,” the nazgúl’s voice was suddenly metallic and officer-like, “is already in your possession, so please work your memory.”
Damn, just what I need… get lost, willya? Wait, what was that he’d said about the Mirror and the palantíri?
“The Mirror and the palantíri arose as product of separation of the Eternal Fire, so the same Fire would destroy them, right?”
“Bravo, Haladdin! Precisely so, and in no other manner.”
“Wait a second, where am I supposed to obtain this Eternal Fire?”
“The entire Orodruin is at your service.”
“Are you kidding? Where’s Orodruin and where’s Lórien?” Sharya-Rana spread his hands: “This is precisely your riddle.”
Haladdin shook his head. “Yeah, no joke… So: one, sneak into the Elvish capital; two, charm their queen; three, steal a thousand-pound medallion; four, drag it to Orodruin… all right, I won’t count lugging it up to the crater as a separate task… and I have how long to do all that?”
“Three months,” the nazgúl said drily. “A hundred days, to be precise. If you’re not done by the first of August, you can wind up the operation – it won’t help anyone any more.”
To appease his conscience, Haladdin had actually tried solving the riddle, wracking his mind for two or three minutes – no way, no how! – and finally asked in relief: “All right, Sharya- Rana, I give up. What’s your solution?”
“I don’t have one,” the other replied calmly, turned what used to be a face towards the stars and muttered with a strange sadness: “How time flies… less than an hour left…”