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Cinnamon Raymaker
Elwing wandered back to the beach where Linfea had gently placed her on her arrival in this land. The waves lapped at the sandy shore and lulled Elwing into a sense of calm. She sat on a rock and looked out over the sea from whence she had come, wondering how her Uncle fared.
Almost dozing off, she opened her eyes when she heard the chattering of several excited seabirds as they circled around above her. Instinctively, she tuned in to their chattering and picked out some pieces of information, which they were chattering over and over again.
"Fur ... magic ... darkness ... dark."
Astonished and feeling somewhat overwhelmed and concerned, Elwing looked up and saw the birds flying out of sight around the cliff face. She quickly got to her feet and made her way carefully around the bottom of the cliff face. What she saw around the other side was amazing - a hidden pathway. which brought her to yet another beach oasis. Obviously the people here enjoyed their food, and their campfires were always well-tended. However, she was beginning to wonder just exactly who these people were! Having seen only one inhabitant so far, and now hearing the bird's repeated words, Elwing worried that the darkness which had taken her from the sky may have had something to do with avian warning concerning Princess Fur.
Passing by the campfire, Elwing wandered further around the small cove in which she found herself. Standing on the sandy beach she happened to look skywards to see her friends, the seabirds, circling on high. She craned her neck to try and discover where they were headed. Way above her head she noted gigantic rocks piled up together into a strange overhanging structure. She wondered if that was one of the high skylets which Princess Fur had warned her about. Its menacing shape made her shudder uneasily. She carefully skirted the rocks scattered around the beach and climbed up to the top of some larger mounds, which appeared to have fallen from above eons ago. The action of the seawater, wind, and waves had started to render them smooth rather than the jagged rocks from more recent falls.
As she scaled the mound, she came across a waterfall that dropped gracefully from a great height above her. Remembering the falls near Menegroth, her childhood home, Elwing decided to venture further to see if there was a pass behind the falls. Taking a deep breath of air into her lungs, she jumped into the stream and made her way through the rushing falls, finding herself in a deep underwater cavern. She looked around instinctively and pushed herself from the bottom of the water up to the surface, emerging into a dark hall with runed columns reaching up from under the water. Beams of light shone through from cracks in the ceiling above. She spied a platform onto which she pulled herself and sat, legs dangling over the edge, wondering what to do now. Just then she spied a ramp scaling the walls of this deep black cavernous building. She carefully negotiated her way around the platform and across the columns, noticing a small shelf that would keep her dry as she walked across to the ramp. Slowly and carefully she walked up the ramp, pausing for a few moments to check the runes on the closest column. Some of them seemed a little familiar but others looked strange to her and were from unknown origins.
Elwing reached the top of the first ramp and checked around the platform on which it ceased. She looked back across the massive expanse that marked out this building and realised that the shafts of light she had seen were not beams of sunlight at all but came from some unseen source around that central platform. That, indeed, was eerie, and the blackness of the stone in this building weighed heavily on her mind. She continued up a small ramp and found herself in the blackest room she had ever had the misfortune to enter. Black crackled marble columns held up the heavy stone from crashing in on her. Elwing suddenly felt that sense of crushing dread which she had experienced both times she had been thwarted from achieving her goal of reaching the vessel Vingilot. It was so disturbing that she had to close the thought from her mind or she would not even think of moving on through this place.
Steeling her nerves, she walked into the centre of the hall in which she found herself. To her left she saw two large heavy metal doors. In front of her were two braziers filled with glowing flames which added at least some light to the end of the hall. To her horror, she saw between the braziers a throne covered in red - as if it had been doused in blood. The whole throne area was covered in layers of spiders' webs, almost caressingly encasing the area for protection.
Elwing gathered herself yet again and continued to walk towards this terrifying vision. The sense of menace resurfaced the closer she got to that red throne. It impinged on her senses and affected her breathing so badly that she panicked and had to turn away. In doing so, she again caught a glimpse of those huge doors and hurried towards them. The feel of the cold metal under her hands brought her back to reality. She pushed at the doors, and thankfully they gave way and opened. Elwing caught her breath as she saw more webs lining the cavern into which the door opened. Then recoiled in horror as she realised what was below her. It resembled a huge white crystalised egg, cradled by the roots of giant trees, which dug deep under the ground of this isle. What else lay in wait for her she could not tell until she again ventured down the ramp in front of her.
Reaching the bottom, Elwing looked into the tree roots, seeing that the egg was cradled lovingly. She peered carefully inside it and noticed something very strange. She thought it might have been a sword standing with the blade pointing upwards, gently piercing the egg as if to gather something dripping from its inner surface.
The sense of darkness was at its highest in that egg. It almost felt like a living entity trying to penetrate her mind and body. However, she felt the most urgent need to touch and soothe its presence. It was as if a child was calling out to its mother - just for the feeling of touch and security. Elwing walked out onto a small stone shelf in front of the egg and reached out her hand to touch it.
Suddenly, she heard the sound of malevolent laughter ringing around the cavern and recoiled as though she had been hit by a bolt of lightning. Hearing the wild chirping of the seabirds she looked up from her intentions as though a spell had been broken.
"What are you trying to tell me my friends?" she whispered.
Hurriedly she moved back to the platform and scurried up the ramp from whence she had come. Feeling a sense of impending doom was hovering around her, she searched frantically for the waterfall and ran towards it, launching herself into the air and through the wall of water, praying her wings would appear.
"Thanks be to blessed Illuvatar!" she prayed, as she gently floated down to the beach below and scurried away to retrace her steps to the tree fort and safety.
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