THE BATTLE OF THE PEAK
Composed by the Lady Ithilorn of Mirkwood, based on the account of her brother Legolas
Translated into the English of the Seventh Age by Irony-chan

In Moria, in Khazad-dûm
Where high dwarven pillars loom
Above the stones of Balin's tomb
Did Durin's Bane lie wrapped in sleep
Till far beneath the frozen ground
With crumbling ruins all around
It slow began to hear the sound
Of far-off voices in the deep

And sets of footfalls slowly stepped
Above where Durin's Bane had slept
As nine companions softly crept
Through caverns dark and empty halls
And shadow-flame awoked and stirred
Inside the darkness as it heard
The treading foot, the whispered word
And quiet echoes from the walls

So Durin's Bane began to rise
A fire kindled in its eyes
The mountain heard its dreadful cries
The terror of a distant age
A shadow spread beneath its wings
The twilight that to evil clings
The darkest of the darkest things
A-burning now with ancient rage

The mountains shivered 'neath its feet
It shook Celebdil's very seat
As in the dark, the drummers beat
The doom of those who trespassed there
The cavern deeps began to glow
And magma 'cross the floors to flow
The mountain ran with melting snow
And fire shimmered on the air

Its smoke rose in a twisted plume
Its burning shadow lit the gloom
And at the bridge of Khazad-dûm
It found the nine who'd wakened it
It raised its whip, it raised its sword
Celebdil trembled as it roared
While fire from its body poured
Like water down into the pit

But Gandalf stood and smote the stones
The mountain shrieked in cracks and moans
As fires battled in its bones
With shape and shadow, sword and spell
"You shall not pass!" the wizard cried
The sword was split, the whip flew wide
The bridge was sundered side to side
And into chasms deep they fell

And long they dropped, but grappled still
With all their strength and all their will
In the abyss beneath the hill
And deeps where sunlight never shone
And when they to the bottom came
In pits of stone that have no name
The waters doused the demon-flame
And yet the two both battled on

Above, the land was seen to shake
The very Earth would move and quake
The mountains shuddered in their wake
And ancient stones were split in two
They fought upon the Endless Stair
And climbed up to the sunlit air
Upon the peak and duelled there
Where Durin's Bane burned bright anew

The mountain top was hid in cloud
And thunder rumbled long and loud
White lightning struck Celebdil proud
And danced around the fighting pair
At last, the wizard smote his foe
And threw it down into the snow
To break upon the rocks below
And fall to ash while lying there

The wizard passed into the night
And wandered far from mortal sight
Then reappeared, robed all in white
So was the battle not in vain
The king of eagles bore him then
Off to the Elves in Lórien
So came he back to Earth again
To tell the tale of Durin's Bane