Sixth Poem from Malek
They stood with stealth, gently lifted the jewel,
And softly slipped from the hushing hall.
In silent slumber a kingdom slept
Unwarned of absence. They fled for freedom
Leading in quiet line
those of their folk
who had helped with the wine.
A stair fell steep from the castle crag,
Its base abutting a quiet cove
Whose quay held craft both strong and swift.
Straight down the stair the three came
Then checked in fear.
Hatori’s ambassador softly smiled,
'What brings such nightbirds here?'
The castle-crowned crag lay quiet, cold
With neither light nor lamp. But a mass of men
Two score in sum were placed to bar their path.
'The lord would not like to hear of your haste,'
'To borrow wings and fly.'
'Why, what a reaction!'
-'You'd surely die!'
The Marid eyed them with sinister smile.
'But need he know?' he suavely suggested.
'We can mend the matter to our own advantage.'
'Consider, Orodruin! My Potentate will pay you
'What you truly deserve:'
'Not trifles like he
'Whom you would no more serve.'
But savage and sudden Orodruin cried out
A wild cry of war last heard long ago
When Fithurin's warriors, defiant, despairing,
Sallied in strength from besieged Amras Hall
And charged to their doom:
seeking others' escape
and they, the tomb.
The Drow above from the steps of the stairs
Drew aim in the dark with Elvish eyes
And let fly a flock of feathered fangs.
And Unglak came forth, defiant, determined
And slashed his axe
with leaping lunge
at that Marid lord.
But he stepped aside, and with mighty power
Swiftly aimed to cripple or kill.
Eluding, evading, they danced a dance
As light as lovers, as deadly as death.
But with lightning speed
the axe did the kissing
And Unglak the deed.
That servant of Hatori slid from his axe
Lifeless and limp back to the river.
Then Fèhaglin found him, her spear stained with blood:
The three were alone but for Death and the dead.
So they swiftly embarked
the ambassador's boat
and were lost in the dark.
In far-off Balem, in a hidden hall
Fèhaglin faced him with unwilling eyes.
In his hands Orodruin held the gem,
His head tilting forward, his gaze to the ground,
His grey eyes glimmering
with sudden sheen,
with gem’s light shimmering.