Forgotten Ground Regained
Slaying the Dragon
What first I feared ‧ had finally come to pass!Their graceless grandeur, their greed and foolishness,ignorance, thoughtlessness, arrogance and pride had drawn down the dragon’s ire, and doom was come upon us.
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Our place, our prosperity ‧ and precarious peacewe had held here ‧ hidden in our hands;with quiet commerce ‧ cautiously constructinga life and living ‧ on the lake through long years.Not troubling the terror, nor travelling to the north;but finding firm friends ‧ in the Elf kingdoms,winning trade in wine ‧ both west and south.
Then the Dwarves came ‧ with confusion and controversy.Ragged refugees, claiming royal rights.Hopes were heard, and were hurriedly believed —rich and poor ‧ saw a bold brightness brandished.False was the future ‧ they unfolded before us!The briefest thought had told me, that burning bane could not be conned and cornered, or craftily killed, by so few, so simply, and so soon!“Doom and disaster, danger and devastation!”Perforce I spoke ‧ these words of woe,pleading for patience, and proper thought. But all-unmoved, a mockery ‧ they made of me,in excitement bound ‧ to their unreal dreams.New songs they sang, sated their thirst, and spokeof fame and fortune, gold and glory!Thorin -- a new and caring ‧ kind of Dwarven king!!
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The year’s end approached, and our ending also!Lo, in the North, a light ‧ was lit in the darkness!Bereaved of his gold ‧ by the bold burglar —Arisen from rest, his revenge seeking,roaring in rage, he rowed the dark skies,as a flaming dart ‧ of final doom.Red the ripples ‧ on river and lake,as Smaug, in swift ‧ spite swooped downand with furious fire ‧ fought against us.Urgent, the trumpet ‧ sang out the alarm!At once our axes ‧ bit and cut
until crashing, the causeway ‧ crumpled and fell. But broad wings beating ‧ bore him ondaring the danger of dark, quenching depths.Fear of our fiery foe ‧ found many unmanned,scattering and scrambling ‧ to escape all scathe.Sturdily my mighty men ‧ still stood unmoved,terror not tearing ‧ their trusty hearts.Archers all, ’gainst Smaug ‧ their anger stirredtill hard hands high ‧ their shafts directedstraight and strong, none straying from the target.Vainly we loosed until the last, yet naught availed.Hard as adamant ‧ his hauberk of jewels,and our shafts shrivelled ‧ in his white-hot breathing.Through all the town the thatch ‧ he tore and burned,as with brimful buckets ‧ brave souls struggledto quickly quench ‧ the flaming roofs.His thrashing tail smashed ‧ homes and Hall;his brute breath burned ‧ the broken ruins.
The while we fought, wives and widows wept;and bundled into boats ‧ with babes in arms,hoping against hope ‧ this horror would be halted.Almost my soul ‧ and strength did quailas still unhurt he hunted them ‧ across the waves.Wrathful beyond reason ‧ he raged over us again,careless and reckless, in heedless confidence.
Then to my shoulder ‧ the thrush flew, fluttering.“Wait!” he whispered, “Watch for his weakness!”“A hole there is ‧ in his ancient armour — beside the breast, behold — beneath the leg!”Bending my bow ‧ I begged, “Black arrow,trusty heirloom, fly true ‧ to the final target!Straight from the string smite ‧ this evil Smaug!”So deafening was ‧ the dreadful, dying cry,the awful anguish ‧ echoing across the lake, his scream splintered stone, split trees tumbled.Full on the flames ‧ of his fiery pyrehe crashed ... and was quickly quenched. The dark depths ‧ swallowed him in steam ...and sudden silence.
Copyright © Susan Edwards, 2010