[Alcarillo]

Cainenyo ran as best as he could through the city streets. His right ankle hurt with dull pain at each step, but that did not stop him. To fight the orcs was useless. There were too many of them, and the city would fall anyways. He just wanted to be back with his wife and children, and far away from this horror. They could've escaped since Cainenyo had left them in the dark street, and they might've found a gate through the wall, towards the northwest. That was were Cainenyo ran, just wanting to escape. This was not a fight, but a massacre. Dead bodies lay in the street where orcs had passed, and every street was home to a burning house. He ran through a wide plaza, with nothing but dead, broken elves staring at the night sky smeared with smoke for company, and the mangled corpses of orcs lay slumped in each alleyway, just ready to spring to life and snatch Cainenyo by the throat with their bloody claws. Cainenyo even stabbed dead orcs to see if they truly were slain as he passed them. He recalled a story, told in his youth, about people who sat like stones for hours, and now he greatly prayed that the orcs had not learnt this cruel new trick.

There was a wounded orc crawling through the mire. Cainenyo stabbed it firmly in the back and it collapsed into a puddle of blood with an inhuman shriek, and Cainenyo ran on, not wanting to see so many dead people ever again. So much death was in the city that night that it hung in the air like a dreadful fog, so thick was it that a feeling of dread and horror filled everything. Houses that were once beautiful and joyful now sat abandoned by their owners and looted by orcs, with their tall, arched windows staring blankly like the eyes of a skull. Where a home was burning, shadows danced wickedly all along the street, illuminating the carnage that lay all around. Cainenyo turned his eyes away from the horrors of war only to be met by more grim death. He turned his eyes towards the sky, where through the thick smoke a few stars glittered like diamonds, and Cainenyo spoke a short prayer.

"Elbereth, sweet Elbereth, guide me from this city and to my family . . . " His voice weakened at the last word and sharp worry entered his heart. His family! Were they dead, lying like those stiff corpses in the plaza? Were they saved by some miracle of Eru? There was only one way to tell, and that was to head to the northwest of the city. And so he ran, with his family in mind, ignoring his hurt ankle as best he could. The city walls were within view, and as he turned a corner he came to them. He began to panic. How would he cross over the wall? Had his family escaped this way, if at all?

Then a sweet sound came to Cainenyo's ears. The sounds of war silenced as the creaking of a wooden door floated through the air: the sound of an escape, a wooden door through the wall, unlocked. It was far down the wall, to the left. As he came to it his heart rose with happiness. It was large enough for a cart to pass through, and in fact, it must've been a small version of the main gate itself, perhaps used to move garbage out of the city where the people would not see. He felt elated. This was his escape! This is where his family escaped! The tracks in the dirt road leading from the door told him so. He pushed aside the swinging door, and ran down a grassy yellow slope from the city. He was free! The river stood before him shining in the early morning, and further down the river stood a stone bridge. And beyond the river stood dark brown and green woodlands, crawling across the hilly landscape. Oh, thank you, Elbereth! Cainenyo thought he could've sung out loud in his elation. The sun was rising over the Hithaeglir, and Cainenyo ran towards the bridge, following the tracks in the red dirt road.