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It was the darkest hour before dawn when Khamûl sought his master, and in their distant past, this would have been a grave violation of the etiquette. However, in their current state of wraiths, they were not distracted by nuisances such as sleep or breakfast.
'My lord,' Khamûl began, 'I heard rumours that you are forging a secret alliance with Rhudaur.'
'I see that it is no longer secret,' the Witch-king replied, 'so I can confirm that it is true.'
'Forgive my audacity, but have you thought it properly?' Khamûl asked. 'The Men of Rhudaur still remember how we invaded them less than seventy years ago and killed and enslaved many of them. In particular, their current ruler - I've forgotten his name...'
'Nabro.'
'I have heard from very reliable sources that he has held fiery speeches against Angmar, and this is partly why the Rhudaurians welcomed him as their lord. I think that any attempt to win them as our allies is doomed to fail, and will lead only to trouble for our emissaries and maybe even to leak of our secrets to the Dunedain.'
'Your information is true, Khamûl, and I commend you for your devotion to duty. However, you do not understand the locals, and this drives you to unwarranted pessimism. Of course, the Rhudaurians remember the unfortunate episode you mentioned. However, their lives are short, and they have relegated it to the past. They are pragmatic people, not bound by stupid fixed ideas of good and evil, and this is especially true for their lords. Nabro did hold fiery speeches against Angmar when it suited him, but if the situation changes and he sees an advantage in an alliance with us, he will hold even more firebrand speeches against Arthedain.'
'What advantage can we offer to win him over?'
'Various things that don't cost us too much. Winters in Rhudaur are cold, and we have more wood than our people need. We can sign a treaty to sell cheap wood to Rhudaur. And even more importantly, we can offer them land if they help us against Arthedain and Cardolan. When Arnor was divided into the current three states, Rhudaur got the smallest and worst piece of land. The Rhudaurians are bitter about it to this day, and secretly wish to take land from their neighbors. We'll be fools not to use this weakness.'
'I am afraid that even with the help of Rhudaur, we couldn't win a war against Arthedain and Cardolan.'
'Oh don't worry, Khamûl. We can rely on another weakness of our enemies. When Arnor was divided into three smaller kingdoms, their kings promised to take all important decisions together, unanimously. Hence, the dissenting voice of one of the rulers is enough to block any important decision by the other two, even if they see very well what he is up to. This way, one small and weak Rhudaur won over by us will be enough to break the backbone of the remnants of Arnor without a single arrow shot. Remember my word, Khamûl: in a century at most, Cardolan will be done for, and before this Age is over, the same fate will befall Arthedain.'
'Well, these political matters are too complex for me. I hope you know what you are doing, my lord,' remarked Khamûl and left the Witch-king. As he was walking to his room under the unpleasant light of the morning sun shining through the windows, he thought that he wouldn't understand white people even in a million years because they apparently couldn't think straight.