Estateillio

White Fire

• The fight was over fairly quickly - almost unsatisfyingly so - and Estateillio stalked towards the last survivor that was recovering from being knocked unconscious in the beginning of the fight.

• It was their leader and the elleth had kept the orc of unknown gender alive for information and she planned on collecting that now. And so she put the tip of one of her bloodstained blades at its neck and growled in Black Speech: "How did you find us?"

• "I will tell you nothing, you elven mongrel", the orc spat and Estateillio put pressure on the sword and cut a thin line into its sallow skin: "You will tell me everything I want to know, lest you suffer and scream in pain and agony."

• And the orc laughed and exclaimed: "Pain and agony! Have you not had enough of it in Angband? We have been warned, you know, of the crazy elven bitch and we have a message for you. There's a room prepared for you, in Orthanc and Barad-Dûr. A room in the dungeons! Perhaps you'd like to revisit a few memories?"

• And Estateillio snarled and cried out: "Enough!" And like a blade her mind sliced into the consciousness of the orc and it screamed. "Answer my question!", she demanded, after she had retreated again, and her victim whimpered and complied:

• "Saruman sent a raven with us. It followed you during the day in safe distance and lead us during the night. We hid until we realised that you were going to Moria and decided to attack and capture the halflings, because Saruman wants them."

• "Are there others?", Estateillio asked, pressing the orc to tell even more than the information it had so readily given.

• "Yes! Some further to the South and one on the other side of the mountains. I don't know if more have been send out", it blurted in a desperate attempt to appease her, so that she might not kill it, but it was futile.

• With one sword she held the orc still and with the other she stabbed its stomach and then left it to bleed to death and on an orc's clothes she wiped the black blood off her blades and sheathed them.

• And with slightly raised arms she stepped into the middle of the slaughter - for what else could it be if her opponents had no chance and barely left a scratch on her - and she gathered her power and from her opened and upturned palms sprung white flames and they consumed her victims, orcs and wargs, both dead and those that still clung to life, futile their fight though was.

• And they burned and Estateillio ignored their pitiful whimpers and the fire did not spread to the dry grass, but died out instead, when all were turned to ash. And the taint that the orc blood had left on the land was washed away and where the ask lay there would soon grow new plants, flowers and holly trees.

• It was the best thing to do with orc corpses and, in her mind, very satisfying. Using creatures of death and darkness to create new life and light was as if laughing into the face of their creators and Estateillio delighted at such opportunities.

• And while the corpses burned, she cast out her mind, sending her senses far up into the sky and searching for a raven, those animals that would never willingly serve the enemy and thus had went unnoticed, and she found its tiny soul hidden in the clouds and tightly grasped by Saruman.

• And she yanked at the feathered body, pulling it out of the sky and sending it hurling towards her, and she held the tip of one of her arrows into the dying flames and the white fire clung to the wood like a scared child to its mother and did not burn it and calmly she drew her bow and the arrow flew towards its target with deadly precision.

• And black feathers were consumed by white flames and screeching the raven fell to the ground, landing were Estateillio had stood just seconds ago, the elleth having stepped aside to avoid the bird.

• And amongst the foul orcs, the proud animal burned and died and when the last traces of Saruman were gone from it, the fire ceased and black feathers littered the ground and amidst the soon-to-be patch of flowers and holly trees, there would be a barren spot, where a soul had unjustly been subjected to the white flames of wrath.

• But Estateillio did not know of this, for she had left the place of the massacre wrought by her own hands quickly, and she ran south, intent on finding the fellowship and making sure that there were no other orcs lurking nearby.

• She found them just before noon, quickly briefing them on what had transpired - leaving out the more personal things the orc had said and painting the fight to have been fairer and less of a slaughter and of the raven she only said that it was "dealt with" and leaving the others to make assumptions and no mention made she of the fire - and she declared her intent on scouting ahead and travelled on before the others could object.

• After a long search through the mountains, she found a group of orcs in a small cave about half an hour south of the gates of Moria and this time she did not need information from them and so she appeared in their lair's entrance and she glowed in a fey light and illuminated the whole cavern, leaving no shadows for her victims to hide in, and the white fire sprung forth from her hands and consumed its prey and screams echoed through the cave, but none of their pleas were heard through the thick stone walls and the magic that Estateillio had laid upon the entrance.

• And the light of the fire was reflected off all the metal buckles and her weapons and it shone in her unseeing eyes and unmoving she stood as the flames slowly died out and a sweet and fresh scent filled the air and one could almost hear the music that had first given life to such flames during the first age, where it had become a weapon of the Ñoldor in their fight against Morgoth, though the secret of its creation was known by few only.

• And Náriel turned from the cave and headed north again to meet with the fellowship at the gates of Moria.

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Here's the next chapter, hope you enjoyed (even though it turned quite dark)!
AT