Hi again! You wanna see the disclaimer? Check the prologue. This chapter focuses on the earlier mentioned battle and takes place earlier than the prologue, i.e. this is the flashback
. A.N. : Tolkien's characters, esp. Legolas, won't be introduced into the story until probably chapter 3 or 4, I'm still not too sure. Then again, he might come step into the story in chapter 2, depending on how long the chapters will be (I don't wanna bore u pplz with long chapters).
For this chapter, I would recommend you to listen to Lux Aeterna while reading it (from TTT soundtrack) because it is a very beautiful, dramatic, tense emotional peace of music fit for a battle scene and helps to bring out the mood well. Or Enya's 'Tempus Vernum' would work just as well.
A GIGANTIC HUG TO THOSE WHO REVIEWED AND GAVE ME SOME SUGGESTIONS!!!THANKS!
Chapter 1: Ignis Et Sanguis
The heavens grew dark, as if they wished to shut out the world, the seas grew restless, and darkness fell over land and waters alike. The war drums sounded from all directions, in sang-froid announcing the final hours have arrived, the rhythmic sounds alerting all to evacuate as the earth began shifting uneasily every few minutes, as if something were making its way to the surface. Every drum beating in sync with the hearts of the frightened people, even as her ever-shifting eyes tried to scan the darkness about her, briefly lit by the torches of the others, as well as the lightning bolts that streaked the skies.
She was looking out for him, trying to pick out his form among the masses that milled about in confusion. The earth's movements grew more prominent and the tension grew more palpable, causing her to grip the hilt of her sword even more tightly with her hands, to the point that she was beginning to lose feeling in her fingers. Buildings began to crack, some were leaning unsteadily, while foundations gave way and cracks streaked the lush landscape like lacerations made by a whip. The tremors increased and the Great Wall of Mel'anak cracked, the statues of ancient Kings that were erected upon it fell, their glory dying in that single moment.
Her gaze falls upon the Temple of Iw'zir in the distance, situated upon a high hill with large jagged rocks jutting outwards from the sides at certain places. That is where the High Mages are. That is where the Oracle of Iw'zir may be. She had to find her master and get out of here. She knew that if the roles were reversed, her master, the Oracle of Iw'zir, would not leave her in a situation like this. Though she was his servant, he treated her as he would his child, for he greatly loved children, but was forbidden by the king to have offspring of his own.
She cast one last look to the port, where many women and children were piling into ships to flee. No, as much as she wished to leave, she wouldn't leave without her master, the one who took her in and taught her many things. She ran off, looking quite clumsy because of the ever-swaying ground. The climb uphill proved more difficult than she expected, and silently cursed the subconscious part of her that led her do this, when she could have possibly been on a ship, out on the sea, away from danger. She almost reached the top, once again turning to the leaving ships in time to see several ships capsize due to a particularly large swell.
The white marble temple rose into view, some towers already fallen, others crumbling. Running as fast as she could over the debris-strewn terrain, she had no time to stop when a three-meter gap opened up several a couple of yards in front of her. Her mind briefly panicked, but swift reflexes kicked in, and as her legs brought her to the edge, she leapt and time seemed to stand still. In mid-jump she realized that she won't make it, she probably hadn't pushed off hard enough…but her wobbly feet reached the other side, and for a moment she rejoiced. Until the edge beneath her legs began crumbling away, into the searing lavas below. As the ledge gave way, her hand grabbed a rock that jutted out from the side, and with great effort and gritted teeth, hauled herself out of the gap. She regained her breath, and willed herself not to panic at a time like this. Knees threatened to buckle beneath her, but she pushed on, sprinting towards the temple's steps. Instead of white, they were now stained crimson, and littered with corpses. Her stomach lurched inside her, threatening to evacuate what she had for breakfast that day.
The inside of the temple was much more silent than the outside, but offered no protection from the violent earth movements. It only made the situation more dangerous. She had to find him before the place collapsed. Shew burst into the main hall, a large room adorned with gold, ivory, and precious stones, and topped with a high domed ceiling. And in the center stood the three Mages. The oldest of the three held a large and heavy book, whose cover was of intricately carved wood. His words rang out and echoed throughout the room; his voice mighty and strong, and deep in his chant. The two younger mages also chanted, burning myrrh and incense, their chant a different one from that of their counterpart. She stood rooted to the spot; the power in that room was overwhelmingly frightening, the air was cold. The hall began to collapse in on itself, the Mages didn't seem to notice. The earth tremors grew stronger, and she just stood there, paralyzed with fear. Where was he? She made a move, meaning to go to the archives, where he spent much of his waking hours. She was stopped by bloodcurdling screams and when she turned, all that was left of the three men was the smell of burned flesh and the faint echo of their screams among the sounds of destruction. And the book. The book that caused this, lay on the cracked marble floor. Large chunks of material began to crash to the ground more often now, the gaping holes in the domed ceiling showing the blackened skies above. Turning back, she ran, jumped forward, picked up the book and rolled away just as a huge chunk of debris crashed to the floor where she had been just a moment ago.
" Oh Gods…" she breathed as her route to the archives, and ultimately, to her master, became blocked. She now had only one way to go, and with tears stinging her eyes, she whispered a prayer, and ran off as the remaining portions continued to crash down around her. A long dim hallway corridor stretched out in front of her, but she didn't have much time, as the destruction was in pursuit. Hugging the book close to her, she ran, head bent low to decrease air resistance and increase speed. A crack formed in the hallway, in pursuit. Looking over her shoulder, her eyes widened at the sight. She rounded a corner, weaving left. Another corner, right, then left, left again, then right. She burst out of the hall into the smoke-filled hot air. She was on a balcony, about 20 feet above the gardens below. There were no steps, no rope, nothing to get her to the ground. She would have to jump, as much as she didn't want to. The gap in the ground behind her widened and glowed a deep orange. It surged forward once more, and something emerged. It's eyes green and hypnotic, sized her up. The being drew nearer, out of the passageway, and before she could realize what monstrosity it was that glared at her so, at least twenty more appeared. A whole army of the dreaded Haraki began to close in on her.
With adrenaline running high and wild in her blood, she swung herself over the railing. She landed on her feet, coming down into a crouch to absorb the force of her landing. Daggers and arrows rained down around her, and like a spring she uncoiled and leapt forward, once again on the run. Her heart pounded madly in her heart, muscles aching and strained, Haraki now hot on her heels. Occasionally she had to slide or duck as an arrow flew past her head. Silently, she thanked Eru that these things didn't have the skills of the fabled elven archer Legolas of the Woodland Realm.
She made it to the foot of the hill, and as she approached the town, she stopped dead in her tracks. Before her lay the town in a pitiful state. Thousands of partly devoured corpses littered almost every square yard of the streets. The city of the dead. The Royal family lay murdered on the steps of the palace. Until now she had no idea how quickly these things did their job. Now she knew, and this encouraged her to move quicker. She quickly grabbed up a bag that lay nearby, stuffed the hefty book inside, and flung the bag across her right shoulder so that the strap went across the chest and the bag rested comfortably against her left hip. She continued to run towards the plains to which the battle had moved itself, and towards the seaport beyond those plains. War cries of men, women, and Haraki alike were heard from that direction. Once again the dreaded beasts gained on her, and she found herself being surrounded. Whipping out her sword, she cried: " Let them come and face my wrath!! "
She began hacking away mercilessly at the oncoming Haraki, anger and adrenaline overriding her fear.
Slash. One fell, black ooze flowing from where his head was once attached to the body. She spun, again attacking. Slash. Thrust. Turn, duck, stab. The instructions flowed through her mind.
'I shall forever be in debt to you, Mater Oracle, for teaching me the art of self-defense. Though I could not save you, I can svae myself. Please forgive me…' she thought, and truly was grateful. She spun in time to cross swords with another snarling, foul-breathed Haraki. With one hand still holding the sword, she reached to her side for her trusty dagger, which she promptly stuck in his stomach, disemboweling him. By this time she had lost count of how many she had robbed of life, and they still kept coming. Her sword hacked one's head open, swung to take off another head, and she spun, cutting through another one's chest.
She was now completely surrounded, and there was not enough space for her to defend herself efficiently. One thing to do. She sheathed her sword into the scabbard on her back, and crouched low, then uncoiled and launched herself at the nearest Haraki, leaping up onto his shoulders. She had to be quick and accurate, not wanting to miss a step or get pulled down into their midst. Her feet found their way over many heads and shoulders, like stepping stones in river, her eyes looking where to step next. Just as she looked up to see that she was almost at the edge, she slowed down and was pulled downwards into their midst. She screamed, kicked and thrashed, powerful legs and arms thudded into her, causing her to curl up in pain. She tensed against the murderous onslaught and painfully realized she couldn't reach her long knives nor her sword.
Gathering her strength, she kicked out with both legs, causing those in front to tumble backwards. With that space cleared up, she rolled forward, just as battleaxes and crude swords struck where her head had been moments ago. With more room to move around, she reached to her sides for her long knives, and twirled them in her palms.
Step. Turn. Swipe. Retreat. Stop. Sidestep. Stab. It was a systematic, fluid motion; one move lead to the next with each step and slash of her knives. In this manner she cleared her way, and once she did so, resumed sprinting towards the seaport. They followed, but not for long, as a great rift opened in the earth, separating them from their prey. She was bruised and aching, but happy. And alive.
She arrived on the plain, where many still struggled with the monsters. There was darkness still, and the light was provided by an occasional lightning bolt, and the torches that either lay burning on the ground, or were wielded by the fighters. Liquid fires spewed forth from the deep gashes in the earth. Smoke everywhere, surrounding the fiery form that arises from the bowels of the earth. It utters low, raging deep bellows as several men begin to retreat. It's still on the hill, where the temple had stood.
"-can't win-"
"- the battle has been lost-"
"-retreat-"
Pieces of sentences floated lazily around her as if she were in a dream. She stood there, in terror and awe, staring at the monster, sword feeling suddenly very heavy in her hands. She stepped backward, turned and ran towards the docks, when someone caught her eye. Being pressed into a corner was the soldier her sister was to be married to. Argali was his name. He was a friend of hers, and she didn't intend on leaving friends behind. Her mind screamed at her to get away while she could, that Argali was as good as dead, but she ignored it, as usual. The tides were raging, but the ships won't sink, being made of imported elven make. There was still hope. She hurled herself into battle once more. She quickly pulled out her elven long knives once more. She had obtained them when she sailed to Middle Earth with several merchants. The knives were powerful but light, and easy to handle. Fist leading and blade following, she slashed a Haraki across the face, then stabbed him in the neck with the other blade. Ducking a blow, she stuck the blades into another's abdomen. With her help, Argali now had more space to move and furiously hacked away, wielding a mighty battleaxe, beheading several in a mighty swipe. With the blunt end of his axe, he jabbed an attacker in the stomach, then split its skull, spilling brains and blood everywhere. He ducked a blow, and bringing his axe upwards, lodged it in the thing's abdomen, cutting through the groin in the process. (A.N.: Do orcs have groins?)
There was one Haraki left standing between her and Argali. It didn't have time to react, because she swept her long knives to the left, while at the same time, Argali swung his axe to the right. The body slumped, severed into three parts, guts piling out of a sliced abdomen.
"Thank you," he gasped, wiping sweat from his brow with a muscular arm. The soldiers were now retreating towards the last remaining ships. The earth quaked powerfully once again, almost knocking them off their feet. The lava monster now walked towards the plains from its inland perch.
"Gods help us…" she whispered. He began pulling her away, even as Captain Marduq ran up to him, pulling his family along.
"Argali!! Come, we must leave at once. Who is she?" the captain nodded sternly towards the young woman being pulled along by Argali.
"She is the Oracle's servant-"
"The outcast?!"
"Please captain, she is my friend…she helped me."
"Very well, come along." The captain led the way to his ship. His young son's frightened cries and screams combined with the bellows of the lava monster, producing a frightening sound that chilled the group to their very bones. She wished she could crawl under a rock and hide
And now they were rowing towards the east, towards the shores of Middle Earth. She had a feeling that maybe, just maybe, her master was alive, that he probably managed to escape on one of the ships. She was happy though, she was alive and well, and under the Captain's command, she knew that they would reach the shores safely. After all, they had to warn the other folk and rebuild their great empire. And she had to somehow dispose of the book, or find out what to do with it. She already knew who might be able to help them.
Okie dokie …sorry bout the long chapter. Please review!!! MUCHO THANKIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!