The Lonely Star -- Chapter 4

[piosenniel]

BIRD'S POST


Bird flew through the tunnels, passing Halflings and guards in a blur and a rush. By the time most turned their heads to follow her path, she was gone. But her cries echoed down the passages, an eerie call that sent shudders through those that heard it.

She burst out of the tunnel mouth and flashed skyward, flying like no other crow before or since. It seemed that she had grown the wings of the swallow. The Siril became lost in a mist below her and she aimed for the cold stars above. Then she circled and flew north to the peak of Meneltarma.

The Citadel on the peak seemed a broken, ugly place, as if it's dedication to Morgoth had meant a dedication to ruin. If any beauty had existed here, it had abandoned the site with the Eagles.

The ceremony was beginning, the acolytes of Darkness gathered around the sacrifices, who were bound at the hands, but standing on their feet. They were expected to walk and lay themselves down on the altar. Two tall, towering men, and two small figures, male and female. A thought went through Bird's mind at that moment - "Where were the women of the Faithful?" - but then was gone. The sacrifices were walking forward. Then the small female stumbled, whether through fright or the stony ground, She was lifted to her feet by her hair, and the first cry of the tortured was heard.

It was then that the roar of a Great Wyrm echoed off the mountaintop and flew down the slopes. Whether it was heard in the tunnels below the mountain is not known, but it was carried by the winds to a small flotilla in the mists of the River Siril as they neared the caverns, and a Golden Wyrm on the first ship took up the cry, her great voice muffled by the layered fog. Mithadan and Pio clasped hands for the last time before the battle. "It is beginning, at last." said Mithadan.

And on Meneltarma, a great black and silver Dragon, whose name was never known, descended on the Temple of Morgoth.

[ October 30, 2002: Message edited by: piosenniel ]