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.