A Different Kind of Hell [ Silmarillion ] 3

Chapter Four: Inferno

LOSGAR

Unloading the ships didn't take long. Eve helped with what little she could, but with her injured leg only able to hold her up for short periods, she eventually retired to a small tent they erected. There she worked tirelessly on her cloak for Elenwë. She'd send it back for the woman when Nelyo led sailors on the return. It was much warmer on the grasses of this new land, and she wanted Elenwë to have the cloak where it would be useful.

She hadn't meant to drift off.

When Eve woke before what should have been dawn, she heard shouting and cheers. Behind the voices, a steady rumble filled the air which she could not place. But as soon as she stood and left the tent they'd hastily thrown up after arriving, and saw the red light at the shore, she nearly fainted.

Her leg still burned with pain. Eve ignored it. She pushed forward, limping, until she reached the top of the overlooking headland. Rage filled her, causing her nearly to be sick. For below, a conflagration so large she was sure the other Noldor would see it raged on the beach. The white swan ships, first stained red with blood, now turned to black ash.

"No." She sunk to her knees in a moment of total despair. Watching the cheering Noldor below, her heart broke into a thousand shards. "Finno, no."

To her left she heard shouts unlike the others. For these were angered, not joyous. So stark was the contrast that she forced herself to look over. With help from the light of the inferno below she saw Nelyo, Káno, Tyelko, Curvo, and Moryo in a heated discussion with their father Fëanáro. Suddenly the despair in her heart turned to hatred, and she stood off her knees.

Limping to them as quickly as she could, she did what none dared do. As she closed in on them, the three facing her, Moryo, Fëanáro, and Curvo, made eye contact. The others turned to follow their gaze.

Nelyo's heart broke even further upon the sight of the woman he considered a sister. She looked about ready to kill, and he didn't blame her. So as she stalked right up to them and pushed through himself and Káno, he grabbed her arm to hold her back for her own safety.

"You!" She screamed at Fëanáro in fury. "You heartless bastard, son of a bitch!"

"Eve," Káno tried to calm her down, taking her other arm. But she shook him off violently and he lost his grip.

She got as close to Fëanáro as she could before Nelyo yanked her back. She turned to face him instead. "Get your filthy hands off me, traitor." She nearly spat at him. Turning back to Fëanáro, deciding to ignore that Nelyo had not, in fact, let go, she continued her tirade. "You are so full of blackness in that wretched heart of yours. You are evil, Fëanáro, you lost child. How could you even fathom doing this."

No one spoke, so she continued.

"I hope that your precious silmarils shatter, and the light be lost to you forever. You cursed monster." She seethed. "One time I felt pity for you, as we both lost mothers. But now I see why yours elected to die instead of stay with you. She saw the bastard princeling you would become."

Fëanáro hit her so hard across the face that even Curvo stared at him, mouth agape. Eve reeled back, head spinning, and fell into Nelyo. She grabbed at her cheek and felt the blood dripping from the cut the kingship ring on his right hand had left. She went to strike him back but Nelyo wrapped his arms around her and pulled her away. For her sake he had to restrain her.

"Eve! Stop!" He pulled her back while Moryo and Curvo sneered after them.

Eve spat at Fëanáro's feet, blood mixed with her saliva. But as Nelyo was about to pull her away for good, Telvo came up. He looked around.

"Where's Pityo?" was all he asked, voice low and quiet.

Silence.

Káno said, "He was not with you?"

Telvo's face drained of all color and he swayed as he stood. He looked down at the shore, at the burning ships, and then back at his father.

"You woke him, before, correct?" His voice fell to a whisper as even Eve stood silently. "Before you began the inferno?"

Everyone turned to Fëanáro. But Káno spoke next. "Father..."

Fëanáro's face betrayed only the slightest emotion as his lips parted. Yet he said nothing. He released no sound.

And so Telvo spoke again, desperation in his quaking voice. "He slept on the ship. Did you wake him?"

Fëanáro hesitated and glanced down at the raging conflagration. "I did not."

Telvo nearly fell. Káno reached over to steady him, thinking first for the nearby twin even as all of them stood in shock. Telvo shook him off, murmuring under his breath. He took off running, heading down to the beach. The redhead pushed through the crowds which had begun to disperse and ran to the ship he, Eve, and Pityo had come on.

"Ambarussa!" Telvo screamed into the flames, trying to get to the ship, but the fire raged on unhindered, uncaring of the elf's plight.

His brothers raced after him, Eve following as best she could with her limp. But Fëanáro stood alone above, watching them. His dark hair and dark eyes shined in the dying firelight. Above him, a flag of his house waved, the end torn.

Nelyo shouted a warning as he saw Telvo wade into the water towards the flaming shipwreck. Blistering heat assaulted him as he moved as close as he could. Telvo stood, head above the waves, ready to dive in, when firm hands grabbed him and pulled him back.

"Ambarussa, no!" Telvo screeched, wrestling with the hands as he tried as hard as he could to get to the ship. "Pityo!"

But Nelyo and Káno hauled him back through the waves to the shore. Nelyo slipped as he pulled, falling under the waves. The water offered a welcome, strange relief from the oppressive flames. He struggled to stand again, hauling Telvo after him with Káno's assistance.

"Telvo, do not kill yourself," Nelyo shouted at him fiercely as they came closer to land. "Telvo!"

But the Ambarussa kept fighting to return to the flames. He needed to, for his brother, his twin, his other half. He could not fathom life without Pityo. He spun and punched his nearest captor as hard as he could across the jaw. Káno shouted in anguish, dropping Pityo into the water with only Nelyo to hold him. As he stumbled away, blood dripping from his mouth, Tyelko pushed past him and grappled with Telvo, taking Káno's place.

Together, Tyelko and Nelyo managed to wrestle him back onto the dark shore. By the end, Telvo had stopped fighting and went completely limp at the shore, falling to his knees in the waves. Eve openly sobbed, covering her mouth with her hands in absolute, abject horror. The waves washed her dress as she knelt where the water brushed . Moryo and Curvo, seemingly still in shock, stood together a ways away, watching the tragedy unfold silently.

But as Telvo collapsed to his knees, Tyelko fell by his side and grabbed him in a tight hug. He loved the twins perhaps more than any but Nelyo, for he alone had taught them the hunt. Káno took Telvo's left hand and held it tight, forgetting for the time being about his injured jaw. Sensing his eldest brother, Telvo leaned back against Nelyo who placed a hand of comfort on his head, kneeling behind the elf.

They remained there, alone as the Noldor shied away, until the flames extinguished themselves in the waves. Eve sat down beside Káno next to Telvo, crying for his pain, and for her own at the loss of her husband across the waves. All other thoughts remained bent on hatred for Fëanáro. The elf lord never came to see his sons, though those sons cried for the loss of their youngest brother.