The Balinor Chronicles: The Celestial Herd
Chapter 10: Something Had Been Changed
This Chapter is dedicated to the future finder of the LotR Quote.
The massive field spread out in one end of the Valley, filling the curve of the mountains. It was like nothing any of the Elementals had seen before, despite their frequent wanderings around the Valley. In all their thousands of years, none of them had seen anything like this field. It almost seemed to be breathing, growing, stretching as they watched it. And perhaps it was.
For something had changed.
The jagged stones and narrow trails of the mountains all but seemed to disappear. The forlorn plains that Aeoleus had once run on seemed lusher, cooler, less immense almost. The tall imposing oaks of the forest started to vanish, replaced by orchards and young woods. The harsh thorn bushes and dense underbrush melted away as the forest slowly shrunk into itself. The tall pines and hemlocks that once grew along the river softened into willows and beeches, all soft and unimposing. In fact, the only part of the forest that remained untouched was a small clearing where the river was flat, slow, and wide; where the trees opened to the sun; where the first lost lovers had meet and the first blood had been spilt. Only this remained untouched.
For something had changed.
And while the mountains were still there, as strong and wide and deep as ever, the only part that remained as fierce as they used to be was a deep cave with a black oblong pool. Even the round amethyst pool utilized by Thaya and Eneus and the Five Friends seemed to change as the trees were replaced by willows and the harsh stone by luxurious grass. Only the cave remained as it was.
For something had been changed. Whether by the will of one of the gods, or by Magic, or by the Mare herself, something had been changed. The Valley, once ideal for six individaul, small Herds had been changed.
Now it was ideal for one, large Herd.