Upon the Eastern Shore of Anduin the Nazgûl waits in the shadows

The fell beast screams in the darkness and the Ringwraith upon it’s back orders it to be still with a silent command.

Behind the Nazgûl, under the cover of the trees, a band of about two hundred orcs sit around fires in a makeshift camp.

For the most part, these were large Soldier Orcs from the Plain of Gorgoroth, that had been sent north from the Black Gate days before.

Led by a great black Uruk commander called Thagûrz, they had cut through the Emyn Muil  along a secret path. Their orders were to wait beside the Anduin near the great and noisy falls until given further commands. The Orcs were nearly three hundred strong, when they met about 50 orcs coming down out of the hills of the Emyn Muil. Out of this motley group of orcs, which hailed from Moria in the north, east from Dol Guldur some out of Mordor itself, came one among them who called himself Grishnákh and was an Uruk of some importance from Barad-dûr. He was in command of the the smaller group of orcs and had an interesting tale to tell.

As the orcs sat huddled around a big campfire, Grishnákh talked of a raid that took place just days before, north along  the river to waylay some elvish spies coming down the Anduin. However, the enemies had escaped to the western shore and one of them had shot the winged steeds out from under a Nazgûl. In a cold rage the wraith had killed the orc commander as well as most of the orcs surrounding him. Many of the uruks from Mordor laughed at at the fearful cries of the northern orcs, but just in that moment there came the terrible scream of a wraith, which landed among them upon his fell beast. There was no more laughter after that. The uruk commander Thagûrz was ordered to wait beside the river with the majority of the orcs out of Mordor. A near hundred of the Orcs were chosen to go across the river and search for the spies. Grishnákh had been placed in command of these orcs and he looked glad to get out from under the watchful eye of the Nazgûl, even though they were headed into the territory of the enemy. Thagûrz overheard the Nazgûl tell Grishnákh that another band of Orcs from Isengard would meet them in the woods upon the far shore.

These orcs had crossed the river  many days before, and still Thagûrz waited with his boys on the eastern shore. Some became fearful and talked of sneaking away in the night. Thagûrz had finally had to remove a few heads in order to keep the rest of the orcs quiet. All the while the Nazgûl waited in silence about a hundred yard away upon an outcropping of rock beside the river. Finally, after many nights of waiting, a smoke was seen rising across the plain of Rohan near the forest of Fangorn. The Fell beast stirred… it screamed as the great winged beast lifted itself in the air and turning south headed straight for the shadow in the east.

Thagûrz knew that something had gone wrong. Something has slipped past and the Eye in the Dark Tower would be filled with wrath. He gathered his troops and they began to leg it back to Mordor as fast as their iron shod feet would carry them.

The Mordor Appendices ~ The Time Line of the Year 3018 ~ 3019