Celebwen Telcontar: Please forgive the wait in the updating of this story.
Balrog: Humph.
Celebwen Telcontar: Can you be nice?
Balrog: Can I be gneiss? I am made of rock, naturally, but not gneiss. Igneous rock, not metamorphic.
Celebwen Telcontar: Nice, not gneiss! I know, they sound identical, but pleasant, not metamorphosed sedimentary rock!
Balrog: Oh, nice, not gneiss! Be clear, Celebwen!
Celebwen Telcontar: Back on track. I'm sorry for the wait, and here it is. Chapter 2 of Literally Treasure.
Sindarin
English
Speech to and from the Esgaroth thrush
Translations from Sindarin
Silence closed her eyes and allowed her mind to drift. She re-experienced her older days, and heard her mother's voice singing.
A Elbereth GilthonielSilivren penna miriel
o menel aglar elenath!
Na-chaered palan-diriel
O haladhremmin ennorath,
Fanuilos, le linnathon
nef aear, si nef aearon!
O star-queen star-kindler
(White) glittering slants down sparkling like jewels
From firmament (of the) star-host!
To-remote distance after having gazed
From treewoven middle-earth,
Snow-white, to thee I will chant
On this side of the ocean, here on this side of the great ocean!
The hymn to Elbereth was ancient, and in the ancient tongue, in Sindarin, to be exact.
"What is that song?" a voice, the second henchman, she recalled, asked. "I recognize it."
"A hymn, to Elbereth," Silence replied.
"Come down, How do you know the song?"
"My mother used it as a lullaby. My father is Christian, and so she couldn't pray to the Valar and Illuvitar until they divorced." 'My mother is a beautiful woman, but she can be a lunatic sometimes,' Silence said to herself in Sindarin.
'Howso?' Shaw asked in the same tongue.
"Quenuvalye i lamber Eldareva!" Thou canst speak the tongues of the Elves Silence yelped.
'That I do, Miss Gates.'
"Dinen," Silence she replied grudgingly.
'What?''My name is Silence; please use it. I am uncomfortable being addressed as Miss Gates. It makes me feel old.'
'Alright, Silence. In that case my name is Derek. How did you learn Sindarin?'
'My mother taught me.'
'What was her name?'
'Danielle.'
'Danielle Aglariel Shaw!'
'Yes! How did you know!'
'You're my niece… I am Derek Aglarion Shaw.'
'Prove it.'
'The female line has always searched for the treasure of Erebor. The female side of the family has every thing the Fellowship of the Ring had.' Shaw went to a panel, and beconed her inside a secret room. In there was a small bird, a thrush.
"Good morning, Derek. How are you? And who is this lovely lady you've gotten?"
"I'm fine, Bowsong. Meet my niece, Silence."
"Are you able to understand me, Silence, Dinen?"
"I can understand you very well, Bowsong." She was surprised. Shaw really was her uncle. "Only a member of my family would know how to speak to Esgaroth thrushes, because my family has a lot of Dale blood. Dale nobility, in fact." She blinked tears from her eyes. "You are indeed my uncle." They shook hands, then Shaw pulled her into a fatherly embrace. She was shocked that she had found an uncle. They separated, and Silence held up a pair of fingers, which Bowsong fluttered to. "Are you older or younger than nanneth nin?" she asked.
"Younger. You couldn't make me take the Dale crown if you paid me!" He laughed, and then they went to find some supper with the others.
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Silence sat in the SUV, contemplating the reason for her brother's insanity. She began to sing the song that the Dwarves in the Hobbit sang before going to sleep on the night that they had shown up for Bilbo's party. Her uncle joined in before long, making her father very confused. He knew that Shaw was his brother-in-law by now, yet was very reserved towards him. Then, Viktor opened the door, and Silence leaned out, seeing her brother. She could feel her father by her, and knew that Ben saw both of them.
Five minutes later, all of them were in the Trinity Church's basement. Shaw had shattered an old tombstone, and they had dragged out the old body.
"So, who wants to go down the dark scary tunnel inside the tomb first?" Riley asked rhetorically.
"Ben, you first," Ian said, motioning with his gun.
Silence and Ian had been working together quite a bit, and she willingly followed her brother to appease her new friend. He wanted the treasure, yes, but was wanting it for charity purposes, and to find out several things, such as how to stop the current Avian Influenza from spreading to humans in a 1918 Influenza epidemic repeat gone pandemic, as an old friend of his had caught the Avian flu gone human in China and now was very dead.
In the passage after the tunnel, Ian looked long and hard at Silence.
"Someone got a light?" Riley asked, holding a torch. Shaw lit it, and they continued on down the passage, lighting a chandelier on the way.
"Watch your step," Silence's father said. Then, minutes later, Silence's feet gave way. She was falling with a yell, until a strong pair of hands grabbed her fingertips, and another her arms, and she was hauled back up, shaking and trembling. "Ian, meltha, Derek, nanneth-muidor," she whispered, clinging to both. Derek let go of her, and Ian held her close. She could feel his heart hammering against her own chest, and then his lips were on hers, her heart sped up swiftly, and a bolt of lightning seemed to strike her gut as she felt him kissing her. She kissed him back, knowing there was no turning back now. She was attracted to him, and she felt her knees go watery; then he let go of her. They continued, Silence blushing brightly enough that she was surprised they still needed the torch. She kept bringing her fingers up to touch her lips that had been used for this new odd use.
The stairs cracked. Ian grabbed her about the waist and tossed her onto the elevator. She held out her arms as her uncle came hurtling towards her, then her father and Ian. Finally, Ian's other man in the subterranean expedition, Phil, came flying over.
Ben yelled, Abigail yelped, and Ben, she saw, was about to fall. He tossed Abigail over onto a seemingly more stable area, and grabbed the Declaration, which he had dropped. Silence tossed a rope to Abigail, who caught it and came onto the elevator. Then, Riley followed, and Ben fell onto the elevator from the breaking board he was clinging to.
Phil lowered the elevator, and they all stepped off. Silence sneezed, and sniffed the air. Then, her father looked at the back of the passage, and Silence joined him, feeling it. Experimentally, she pressed a circular button looking thing, and the wall fell slightly in. Derek and Ian came up to push the wall back with her help, and the stale air billowed out.
They entered at a run.
"No…" Ben muttered. "Someone… got here first."
"Ben, you moron!" Silence snapped. "How big is this treasure of yours? Much bigger than this room, apparently." She trotted about the perimeter, and then yelled again at her brother. "Ben, where's that pipe you had? I think I've found someplace for the thing." She watched Ben come up and place the pipe in the socket obviously meant for it and the stem where it belonged. Then, he turned the stem, and they watched the wall slide out of existence a ways away. They entered the new area, and Silence looked around, Abigail mentioning something about Alexandria. Ben went forward as Riley embraced an Egyptian statue.
"We found it," Ian whispered to her, wrapping his arms around her waist. She looked up into his grayish green eyes and smiled. He kissed her swiftly, and she kissed him back. The place was filled with light as Ben must have found a main torch, and they looked about the chamber, seeing more treasure there than they had thought of.
"I'm surprised it's all still here. Hell, I'm surprised the Trinity Church still stands," Shaw muttered.
"Dragons went extinct long ago," Silence said to her uncle. "I think. Don't quote me, though." Her uncle was a touch pale after that statement, but let it stand.
"Riley, are you crying?" Abigail asked.
"Look. Stairs." Silence's eyebrows rose.
"A i harma?"And the treasure? she asked. He looked oddly at her, as Shaw struggled to keep from choking on laughter. Ian went and spoke softly to Shaw, then came over.
""Im mel le," he whispered to her. She was shocked.
"Le mel nin! Le mel na i er harma nin."You love me! Your love is the only treasure for me. He kissed her gently at first, then passionately.
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The FBI man, Saduski, was waiting for them.
"A vana," Oh, beautiful, Silence said sarcastically to her uncle who was very pale now.
Pigs, he replied.
In this case, FBI. What do we do? Silence muttered.
I really don't know. "Listen, you, Saduski. Listen to us. We found the treasure; you can't incarcerate any of us."
"I have to; you guys stole the Declaration of Independence."
"Not technically; it was those three," she said, indicating Ben, Riley and Abigail. "But we will make a deal with you to keep from returning to prison. You keep us out of prison, and you can return the Declaration. Don't, and we'll be forced to take action to remove you and your men from the premises, permanently."
"Is that a threat?"
"No, it's a promise." Suddenly there was a loud scream outside, followed by others and honks. "Something's scared the populace witless," Silence said.
"No shit," Phil replied.
"What by Eru?" Derek Shaw asked the air. He then saw what the others had. Something massive and dark had cancelled the light source of fifteen stained glass windows. Silence cursed very colorfully, and looked around.
"What the… hell…" Saduski said as a gout of flame seared the streets.
Oh holy shit. Holy Eru-damned shit. Uncle, can I borrow your gun? That's a dragon.
"Eru rûth na tenn' met…" God's wrath is upon us... Shaw whispered in terror.
"What in bloody hell is that thing?" Ian cried.
"A dragon."
"Uh… right. Dragons aren't real, Silence," Abigail said, as a white gout of flame took off the doors.
"Dive for cover!" McGregor cried, bolting back for the basement at highest speeds. As the head poked in, Saduski fainted.
"Go back under, the quick way. Find something to block the entrance!" Patrick called, yanking the gun from his daughter's hands. Ian grabbed her and they raced for the basement, where they got in swiftly.
"Adar! Adar! Noro lim; gurth i uruloki!" Father! Father! Ride swift; death (to) the dragon! There was a roar, a bang, followed by another and a roar of pain and rage. The pews were scattered, from what Silence could hear. Another bang was heard, a loud thud, and silence. A nasty stench found its way down, and Silence saw a trickle of thick gluey red liquid coming down as she shoved the casket of Parkington Lane out from the passage and they exited. No sound could be heard.
Silence ran up, and beheld the corpse of the dragon. It took up at least five pews for its head alone. The door and the entire front wall were gone, completely. It had gunshot wounds in its eyes, and one in the roof of its mouth, reaching into its brain. Then, Silence saw her father. He was in a dead faint, his clothes nearly burned off, and he was covered in third degree burns. He would loose his arms and legs at the very least, most likely his life as well. As she watched, his breath slowed and finally stilled.
"Adar…" Father... she whispered. She looked at him, beginning to cry. The pews were gone, and a smoking hole was where the alter should be. Father, rest in the peace you have deserved, she murmured in Sindarin. She removed the coat she had worn and covered his head and face.
He was a noble man, Shaw said quietly, holding her. He rocked her back and forth, whispering to her a soft Elvin lullaby. She could see tears down his cheeks as well, and Ben gave a cry of pain and outrage as he saw the corpse. Then, Saduski woke, and took them outside, where he led them to a place for them to mourn without seeing massive holes in the pavement, crushed cars or bodies, or any other sign of the dragon's presence. Then, he apparently fell into a state of shock, having seen the carnage of and a corpse of a dragon.
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"Listen, Keene, you'd better get down here, with some sort of animal control and a news team. There's a dragon in Trinity Church… No, I haven't been drinking!… Nothing fell on my head, either!… Yes I'm goddamned sure it's a dragon!… Well, what else is the size of a 747 and breaths fire!…No, we can't… The treasure, it's real. Only a real treasure would have attracted a dragon… Shut up about the injuries and hallucinations! I'm positive it's a dragon! No matter what the chief says!… Just get your scrawny ass down here by yesterday! God, what a stench the thing's putting up… No, it was killed to keep it from killing a few others and me. One person so far confirmed dead."
Sadusky hung up as the populace milled about in a state of semi-panic. "God, what a nightmare today is turning out to be." He groaned and placed his head in his hands. "Everyone calm down. The situation is under control!" he yelled from the broken steps of Trinity Church. Unless any more come, that is, he thought despairingly.
"Is that a dragon?" a little girl asked, clinging to her doll. Her mother was in a faint beside her.
"Yes, it is. CALM DOWN!" he hollered as people began screaming. "IT IS DEAD!" His throat was beginning to burn from all of the screaming he had been doing. God help me. He began to wish he had taken that job as a hambergur flipper at McDonalds he had been offered in his teen years. He wouldn't have to deal with a terrified mob, a demolished Colonial-era church, at least one dead human, and a dead dragon in that case. Nor would he have to deal with the fact that someone had done the impossible and had stolen the Declaration of Independence, somehow.
Joining up with the treasure-hunters looked like a good idea now. A very good idea. Get rich, and very possibly leave the country.
Celebwen Telcontar: Yes, I know, it's shorter than the first chapter. I think. Six and a quarter pages. And a dead dragon.
Balrog: And you killed Ben's father! Murderer!
Celebwen Telcontar: Everyone dies!
Balrog: Not you!
Celebwen Telcontar: So? I'm Edhel. An Elf. Elves don't die. Unless you count Valinor. Please review, people.