Defenders of Middle Earth: A Middle Earth Story(Book 3)

Chapter 22: Broken

As Caledorn ran, he could hear Flicker's battle cry echoing in his mind. Like the fleeting call of a shore bird departing for Valinor in the West, his voice would never again be heard in this world. But the memory of it was etched into the elf's heart and mind like a carving into wood. The suddenness of the ranger's death had affected him more than anything had in many years... For the first time since he was a young elf, he felt helpless. His pale hands trembled as he tightly grasped his daggers, but despite that he attempted to keep a confident demeanor as he led Gelon's family to safety across the rooftops.

The flames, the cries of despair... They all reminded him of a time long past. In the billowing, dark smoke he thought he could make out the shape of a small girl, helpless and alone as the fires consumed the city. Caledorn felt that the girl was familiar somehow... The way she looked at him, the way she beckoned him into the flames...

But as suddenly as she had appeared, the mantle of smoke transformed and she had disappeared. Caledorn's eyes widened, and he struggled to catch his fleeting breath. Am I going mad? He thought as he gazed once more into the flames. Nothing.

Gelon seemed to notice the warrior's distraught countenance, and rested a hand on his shoulder. "What is wrong, mellon? Are we trapped?"

Caledorn shook off the elf's hand slightly more roughly than he had intended to. "No. It is nothing, continue on."

Even as he spoke the smoke once again revealed a figure... This one tall and fair. This time, he recognized it immediately.

The sight of her brought back a flood of memories that he could not control. Memories of a meadow filled with white flowers and laughter. Of a warm hearth and loving arms around him.

It had been nearly a millennium since he had seen his mother, yet her warm smile was as familiar to him as if he had seen her yesterday. He reached out to her, almost unconsciously. He couldn't feel the flames as they licked his outstretched hand, and he couldn't hear the shouts of warning from Gelon. All he was aware of was his mother.

"Look out!" Gelon cried as a portion of the roof collapsed in front of Caledorn, causing him to snap out of his trance just in time. The flames roared through the newly created opening, and Caledorn looked into it wide-eyed as he balanced precariously on the edge.

"Are you alright?" Gelon asked as he noticed that Caledorn's hands were shaking.

"I-I don't know..." He replied absently as he tried to recover from his momentary lapse in focus. "Let's continue on, more of the roof may collapse."

Gelon and his family needed no encouragement. They leapt across to another roof and kept running at a pace that even surprised Caledorn. But he was barely focused on their escapade at the moment...

Pull yourself together! He told himself as he followed after the family. But no matter what he did, the vision of his mother was ingrained in his mind now.

They managed to make it to the observatory without further issue, and once the doors were bolted shut behind them Caledorn collapsed against a wall. He cradled his burnt hand as memory after painful memory flashed through his mind.

His father, his mother... Even Flicker. He couldn't save any of them. He had been little more than a boy when his parents had died... But Flicker? He had left him when he could have saved him. The ranger had deserved better.

And now no grave would hold him, there would be no tombstone to mark his passing. His life would be to future generations as nothing, yet he had paid the ultimate price to save those he cared about. It filled Caledorn with a sorrow that was almost too much to bear.