His Corrupted Heart [Witch-King x OC]

Chapter I : Seeking What Was Lost

"The sad truth is that we're all missing someone..." -Unknown

50 Miles North of Sîr Ninglor (Gladden River)

One month.

That was how much time had passed since Inconnu found the Witch-King's blade abandoned in the Fangorn Forest. Buried in the layers of ash from the fire that threatened to consume its master. The Witch-King had escaped however, the fires failing to destroy him due to the design of far greater powers. To be consumed in flame was not his fate. Inconnu has never asked to hold the fate of Witch-King in her hands, but after seeing the fiery destruction of the clearing she had never been so glad to possess it. Though in control of his ultimate fate, that did not mean that other forces could not do other things. One could not kill what was already dead, but they certainly could bring great pain and harm.

Inconnu knew that the Witch-King must have been trapped under burning tree-like being for several hours, the flames trying their hardest to devour all that made up his physical being. She did not know the full and true extent of the damage however, the pain he must be suffering from. Though he was the greatest of the Nine, fire was one of the greatest vulnerabilities they all shared. Inconnu had quickly left the Fangorn Forest astride Sverundr, the new objective of her hunt at the forefront of her thoughts. In a normal hunt she would have partaken in this was the stage where her prey, now greatly weakened, would attempt to make a run for it to somehow escape their fate at her hand.

The Final Chase, as Inconnu called it, the point in time to see which was greater: the hunter or the hunted. This was no normal hunt however, something she accepted the moment she agreed to save him. That day seemed so long ago now, a dream in the presence of Oromё within the broken halls of Carn Dûm. So much had happened since then and now here she was, chasing the Witch-King further north through the Misty Mountains. Inconnu had few traces of him as she followed him, most of them being hoofprints of a stallion.

With this she assumed that the Witch-King was still in possession of his black steed, which would explain why she had not caught up to him already. On his own he would have made much less progress each day and be unable to stay ahead of her. In the first week of this new stage of the hunt, Inconnu had figured this but could not explain why the Witch-King was still out of her reach with the pace she was keeping.

For the past month Inconnu and Sverundr kept a fast pace in order to more quickly find the Witch-King. In this haste, both of them regulated themselves to sleeping lightly and only for a few hours at a time before moving on once again. Sverundr would eat during the times Inconnu was forced to stop and hunt for food and other provisions, and when the food was properly cooked and stored Inconnu would eat as she rode. This wasn't the first time they had done such a thing, but was a rare occurrence. When Inconnu took this into consideration, she realized the one advantage she didn't have over the Witch-King.

The undead do not need to rest, to consume sustenance, nor to stop and replenish provisions.

Each time she had to stop, the further away the Witch-King became.

This irritated the aspect of her that was the Huntress of the North, but there was little Inconnu could do about it. Eventually, the Witch-King would have to stop and it would be then that she would finally find him. What she would do then, Inconnu did not know but she knew would act as the situation would demand. Right now, Inconnu had to stop due to something that had caught her eye. She dismounted from Sverundr, who snorted lightly before lowering his head to graze the tough grass that grew in the mountains. Inconnu had almost missed it in the fading light of the sun, and crouching down the tips of her fingers faintly traced the imprints of hooves from a single horse. It had rained only a few days ago and so the ground was still soft, the impressions deep enough to hold for some time.