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14. Estel va Atalante Chapter V: A Final Dance of Blades; The attempt of the Ainon Cundan to hunt-down and capture Yucalwe....
Topic Started: Oct 2 2015, 07:37 PM (88 Views)
Auruiron

Yucalwe broke free from Tinnudir, escaping the Dunedain. Not a single ranger was slain, but several were wounded. Abrazan helped keep the fire going. The darkness was deepening in the western Emyn Uial.

Astarseron and Almareon met with Auruiron as he rested in bed, recovering. Almareon had been known also as Annunon. They gently folded his cloak around him, embracing him deeply. Astarseron smiled, "Do you remember our first journey together?"

"It was across the Helcaraxe.... you were my guide....... you protected us......my cousin....."

Astarseron leaned-over, kissing Auruiron tenderly on the forehead, "Yes...... and now I must go and find he who did this to you........."

Auruiron moaned, "I lost track of him in Tinnudir.......... Inheroth, where is Inheroth......."

Almareon smiled, "We will find him. Worry not."

Auruiron closed his eyes, feeling their lips kissing his cheeks. He wanted to reach and kiss theirs, as he was oft to do. He was still too weak to lean forward. He saw Astarseron's orange silk swish around the corner, until he vanished. Almareon's deep red followed him. Auruiron closed his eyes.

They had lived on wild roots and honey, and berries in the wilderness. The Eldar hummed in harmony with the bees. Their camps were made with ease, as the sun rose and set. It had been rougher on the refugees in Evendim. Abrazan toiled at the fires, and labored at obtaining food, while his father sat in a meditative state. But the bile of Amarthon, of Amanuiron... Guldrambor... surged through him, to the point in which his fea was imprisoned by the demonic falsehood that now consumed him. Abrazan suffered from nightmares too. Both had come to believe that they had slain hundreds in an arena in Umbar. The final stage of the poisoning was near complete. Abrazan slowly felt violent thoughts toward his father. Yucalwe gradually thought of slaying Abrazan. Yet they kept each other alive as the Emyn Uial fell away to the forests and ruins before them, and they slew any harmful wildlife with ease. Yucalwe sliced-clean through a mother bear and her cubs. This made Abrazan's wrath increase tenfold.

They reached the River Lune and built a raft, and crossed it, and then they climbed through the Dwarven lands. They found a portion of the ruins of old Nogrod, following it through the shadows of the Ered Luin, and no evil rose to halt them, for the darkness had enshrouded them. They emerged from those ruins and passed into Lindon. The sun rose and set on their despair. Camps were cheerless, and the warmth of the fires did not soothe them. Soon, Abrazan spoke, "Look up! There it is!"

The Isle of Himling loomed in the distance. They built another raft, fighting off the sea-beasts as relentlessly as beasts themselves. And when they landed on the soil, Yucalwe's mind became unhinged completely, as all he saw were the old memories of the First Age, flowing through him. Abrazan dreamed with him. This was a particularly potent poison. Guldrambor, far away on the shores of Rhun, was grinning insidiously. Yucalwe spoke, "And now, shalt I find he, Auruiron, and destroy him....... fulfilling mine own vow......."

It did not take Astarseron and Almareon long to find them. For Astarseron reasoned that Yucalwe would seek old Himling, a place that was special to him, and Almareon went along with that whim, though they had confessed to themselves that it would likely be a waste of a journey, of weeks in the brush, for their true destination should be Evendim. But Astarseron's whim turned-out to prove correct. Astarseron had rested himself closely with his brother, in remembrance. They had ever felt fulfilled in Auruiron's service, for he was their beloved cousin. They sought to end the feud between their Houses.

They dismounted from their raft and traveled up the tall, dark, steep and rocky hill. The old ruins were far gone, for Himring had been crushed by the Enemy, its remnants weathered by time. Only the soil remained.

Yucalwe, within his mind, saw everything as it once had been. He walked through the old streets of Himring, passing all the grey architecture, ascending into the Citadel, where no one was sitting on the throne. He walked up to it and touched it, though he was standing on a hilltop, for he saw only the mirage. But he did not try to sit, for he turned, seeing the doors of the Citadel swing wide open.

The sunlight made Astarseron and Almareon glitter, their cloaks billowing brightly, as they ascended the hill.

Abrazan turned and saw them, "Ada! Look!"

Yucalwe saw Morgoth and his legions approaching, and with them was Guldrambor. Morgoth and Guldrambor approached. He drew his sword.

Blades clashed as the sunlight flashed on cold, hard steel, terrible, as the ripping sounds unseamed them. Astarseron and Almareon realized their miscalculation: they forgot to bring their special cloaks. The cloaks were wrapped around Auruiron, even still.

Astarseron swung and Almareon parried and Yucalwe struck, while Abrazan could only watch in horror, shouting at his father, as the veil of wrath was lifted from his eyes, in the presence of the first Elves he had ever seen beyond his father. Abrazan steadily fought against the shadows within himself. But Yucalwe did not hear him. Yucalwe only heard the voices of Feanor, Maitimo, and Findekano, ever attempting to silence him, and Makalaure and Auruiron and Finwe, and Ballithor, and everyone who had dared to rebuke him. Yucalwe shouted at the him of his lungs, his blows increased in fanatical strength, his face grinned with his insanity, his eyes blazed as if aflame, and his blade pierced Morgoth, clean-through, as the Dark Lord fell, his iron crown rolling on the ground. And then, Guldrambor lost his head, as it sadly rolled down the hill, bleeding outward.

Abrazan's eyes were filled to the brim with tears.

Another Elf appeared, this time, from beyond a rock above them. Melimwe's plan was to sneak-up behind them, awaiting Astarseron's signal. Melimwe had not rebuked Astarseron's plan, for something spoke within his heart. By the time he had climbed around the hill, he heard not the sounds of combat, he did not hear the clashing of swords, and now, he gazed in terror and utter horror. Almareon's head stopped rolling, the sunlight making his scarlet hair gleam. Astarseron's eyes had lost their fea's light. The trail of blood streamed down the hill.

Yucalwe turned toward Melimwe and shouted, "So it is you, Sauron! You took Macil from me! You took Rostor away! You took away all that I had had left to care for! But you shall not take me!!!!"

He charged in his mad fury, but Melimwe ducked aside, knocking Yucalwe's blade out of his hands, as he stood in mortal shock. Yucalwe fell on his knees. Melimwe spoke, wrath rising in his heart, "I am not Sauron."

Yucalwe collapsed unconscious. Melimwe sighted the darkness that was beginning to envelop his body. Melimwe revealed his own cloak, wrapping it around Yucalwe, keeping the poison at bay. Abrazan quickly reached down and touched it as he gagged, the burning fluid pouring from his mouth onto the ground.

Days later, after the burial of the dead at sea, the three returned to Minas Noldorion. Yucalwe was kept in a basement chamber, under guard, while Abrazan was tended to. Only the spirit of Nelyafinwe spared Yucalwe from a far worse fate. He was kept away from Auruiron, who simmered in the deepest bile of his wrath, at the deaths of his beloved cousins, who had served and aided and loved him, for thousands of years. Their journey had taken them across the Grinding Ice, through battlefields of war and woe, and through the long years of watchful peace, only to perish, alone, on a desolate isle. Auruiron's tears could have filled the banks of an entire river. His mirth of Makalaure's return was now lost in the heart-wrenching grief of his cousins' deaths, and all Auruiron could think, was of how he had failed them. And yet those who did survive aided him, in mourning away his grief. And the voice of Makalaure was ever welcome.
Edited by Auruiron, Dec 6 2017, 05:47 PM.
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