Angst and drama in this chapter. We're almost at the end of this short story. One more chapter left after this one.
As usual, thanks to all the readers and please review :)
Chapter 10
I recommend listening to Requiem by Mozart for this chapter.
Selis had never been in such an anguished state. She was flying above the wide lake in her wind form, eyes looking towards the Lonely Mountain, where she thought she would find Fili. He was not in Lake Town. There was no Lake Town anymore. The town had been destroyed, not much remaining besides burned wood floating on the water.
The dragon had brought his wrath on men. She desperately hoped that the dwarves were safe.
She had been called south for some very long days, each passing slower than the last. She had trouble concentrating and tried once again to ignore the voices in her head.
She had felt completely out of place fulfilling her purpose lately. Someone was telling her constantly that she was straying from her path, forgetting herself. This voice in her hear was deep and wise, the strongest she had ever heard. She had been warned but nonetheless was slowly gliding towards the unknown, towards some dangerous finality.
But was she forgetting herself?
On the contrary, Selis felt she had begun to know herself better the past few months. A new self. Alive and passionate. Scared, sad, tortured but alive.
She put these dark thoughts aside and focused on the only thing that mattered now: to find Fili.
As she reached the end of the lake, she saw that the ground was blackened by a mass of people. Orcs, trolls, dwarves, elves and men, there were all fighting. The ground already burnt by the dragon was now covered with blood. So much suffering did the humans impose on this poor Middle-Earth. Many places in the world still carried the scars of battles: corpses floating in marshes, rich soil made barren by burning, bones littering the once fertile ground…
Everywhere, Selis could hear battle cries and hear the sighs of the dying. The clashing of swords, axes and spears was resonating painfully in her already clenched heart.
It was such a terrible sight to behold. Never had she seen such an awful battle from so close. She usually stayed away from such surges of violence. So many lives lost…
She was scanning the ground with urgency and despair, trying to locate Fili. Her breath caught inside her throat when she feared that maybe she was too late.
Was the company still inside the Mountain?
No! She noticed the stout figure of Gloin crashing his axe on the dirty scull of some orc, Nori at his side slicing another orc's legs from behind.
Where was Fili?
She saw a tall grey figure standing in the crowd and some small relief flew through her.
"Mithrandir!" she cried to him "where's Fili? I cannot smell him amongst all this blood!" she rushed to the wizard's side not materializing for fear of being hit by one of the fighters around them.
Gandalf looked around him but could not see her, just hear her through the wind.
"I think Thorin went up that hill and his nephews were in his trail!" he pointed at Ravenhill, a bleak rocky hill in the north of the plain. Then, the wizard turned his back to avoid being stabbed by a troll and went on fighting.
Selis flew to the hill with all the speed she could muster.
She materialised when she reached the top of the rocks, but all was quiet. There was nobody here. She could just hear the faint sounds of the battle below.
Then, a proud figure appeared next to her clutching an elven sword, his hair flowing in the wind, in a battle stance, eyes searching for his enemy.
It was Thorin.
The King noticed this white-skinned, small and fair creature, clad only in a white shirt, standing in front of him and frowned, surprised. She seemed like an apparition of gentleness and quiet amongst all the fears and cries of the battle. The King would have compared her to a fairy, but for her sad and worried face.
"What are you doing here, woman?" he cried "This place is too dangerous!"
She was about to answer him, when she saw his face contorted in utter despair and hatred, looking behind her shoulder at something.
"Azog…" the king whispered faintly, taking a few steps to stand on the edge of the rocks.
Selis turned around.
A few paces in front of them, the gigantic pale orc was holding a huge spear, his face triumphant. Fili lay on the ground, his eyes wide with fear, the right side of his face grazed with blood. Azog was about to stab Fili to death, thus killing the heir for Durin.
There was nothing Selis, nor Thorin could do.
Selis felt a brutal fire burning inside her suddenly and a white flame engulfed her small body.
The deep voice inside her heard told her: "This is it."
She acted on instinct and threw all her energy towards the spear Azog was holding. As the spear was piercing Fili's body, it transformed into thin air, thus erasing the victorious smile of the orc.
Selis then transformed immediately in her wind form and flew to carry away Fili's body in the air. The wind she was conjuring was a hurricane of fear, hatred for the orc and love for the blond dwarf that she was now lifting in the sky.
All orcs were thrown to the ground by the force of this white wind of despair.
by her white fiery form, taking him away, far away, on a ledge on the side of the Lonely Mountain.
Now all Fili could hear through the wind were Selis' sobs, and he began to feel her tears flowing on his face, as her wind form embraced him warmly.
Selis' body was burning with the white flames. Burning but not consuming. She could fell her hands grow less transparent, more real. Her feet were tingling, aching to find the ground underneath, to steady herself mind and body.
For the first time in her existence, she felt dizzy watching the air beneath her body. The ground was so far! She would fall and Fili with her! She flew with the utmost speed nearer the side of the Lonely Mountain to escape this new terrifying fear of falling through thin air and crash on the ground.
As they landed on a high up ledge, she put Fili down on the rock and collapsed near him.
Her body looked like it was made of a fiery white flame but at the same time growing more solid with each passing second.
She was gasping for breath as she transformed back to her human form. Something was wrong. None of her transformations had made her suffer before. The pain of burning now extended to all her limbs.
"Selis!" Fili cried, crawling to her side to hold her white form in his arms. She was shivering with the fire within her, but her body was cold. Touching her skin, he did not feel the fire that failed to consume her, but that was torturing her.
"Fili…I'm burning" she whispered to him, reaching up to touch his beard with trembling fingers "I'm glad you're safe."
There was a small smile on her lips as she looked upon his beautiful face, his blond hair dancing in the wind all around his head.
How handsome he was. Even his in anguish for her. How she loved him!
She understood at that moment what was happening.
"Selis… you're cold... so cold…what can I do?!" Fili said, his voice full of panic. He did not want to lose her. He needed her. He loved her. She had saved him.
Her fingers dropped from his cheek in an exhausted gesture.
"The gift of the Valar is leaving me" she said, her voice calm. She felt strangely at peace. Fili was safe. Nothing mattered anymore. He had been her purpose.
"I love you Fili" she whispered faintly.
Fili watched helplessly as her skin became less white, more like a normal human skin. The white flames around her had disappeared, chased away by the cold wind of winter.
Her hair was darkening to a dark blond, instead of a white one. He noticed freckles appearing on her upper arms and cheeks as her breathing slowed. She was no longer glowing in his arms. A petite and frail form that seemed to be fading away.
She was still smiling at him when she closed her eyes and her body went still.
Selis had shut down from the world around her.
Fili's tears came pouring down his cheeks and on to her cold face that looked now like a statue of chalk. He screamed for help, again and again, not hearing his own voice though his anguish and despair.
They stood very high on a ledge of the side of the Mountain. No one could hear them.
Fili took off his coat to wrap Selis' body and pressed her hard against his chest, so hard that his own heart beating like mad would awaken her. She had to awaken. He could not lose her.
How long did he remain on the ground clutching Selis' body desperately to his own? He did not know.
The sun was setting on the battlefield, covering the mass of the dead with a dark veil of misery, when the shadow of a giant eagle appeared on the horizon.