Sauron Defeated (59 page)

$22 'For why should the Avalai sit in peace unending there,'

said they, 'while we must die and go we know not whither, leaving our own home; for the fault was not ours in the beginning; and is not the author of evil Meleko himself one of the Avalai?'

$23 And the Avalai knowing what was said, and seeing the cloud of evil grow, were grieved, and they came less often to Numenor; and those that came spoke earnestly to the Eruhil; and tried to teach them of the fashion and fate of the world, saying that the world was round, and that if they sailed into the utmost West, yet would they but come back again to the East and so to the places of their setting out, and the world would seem to them but a prison.

$24 'And so it is to those of your strange race,' said the Avalai. 'And Eru does not punish without benefit; nor are his mercies without sternness. For we (you say) are unpunished and dwell ever in bliss; and so it is that we do not die, but we cannot escape, and we are bound to this world, never again to leave it, till all is changed. And you (you murmur) are punished, and so it is that ye die, but ye escape and leave the world and are not bound thereto. Which therefore of us should envy the other?

$25 'Ye us maybe, for of you is required the greater trust, knowing not what lies before you in a little while. But whereas we know nothing of the mind of Eru in this (for he has not revealed anything of his purpose with you unto the Avalai), we say to you that that trust, if you give it, will not be despised; and though it take many ages of Men, and is yet beyond the sight of the Avalai, that Iluvatar the Father will not let those perish for ever who love him and who love the world that He has made.'

$26 But only a few of the Numenoreans harkened to this counsel. For it seemed hard to them, and they wished to escape from Death in their own day, and they became estranged from the Avalai, and these came now no more to Numenor save seldom and in secret, visiting those few of the faithful. Of whom the chief was one Amardil and his son Elendil (who was called also Earendil for his love of the sea, and for his father, though not of the elder line which sat upon the throne of Numenor, was also of the blood of Earendil of old).

$27 But Tarkalion the king fell into evil mood, and the worship of Eru upon the high place the mountain of Meneltyula in the midst of the land was neglected in those days.

$28 But Tarkalion hearing of Sauron determined, without counsel of the Avalai, to demand his allegiance and homage; for he thought that no king so mighty [could] ever arise as to vie with the lords of Numenor; and he began in that time to smithy great hoard of weapons of war, and he let build great ships; and he sailed into the east and landed upon Middle-earth, and bade Sauron come and do homage to him. And Sauron came, for he saw not his time yet to work his will with Numenor, and he was maybe not a little astonied at the majesty of the kings of men; and he was crafty. And he humbled himself and seemed in all things fair and wise.

$29 And it came into the heart of Tarkalion the King that for the better keeping of Sauron and his new promises of fealty he should be brought to Numenor as his own hostage. And to this Sauron assented willingly, for it chimed with his own desire.

And Sauron looking upon Numenor in the days of its glory was indeed astonied; but his heart within was all the more filled with hatred.

$30 Such was his craft and cunning that ere long he became closest to the counsels of the King; and slowly a change came over the land, and the hearts of the Faithful, the Avaltiri, were darkened.

$31 For with subtle arguments Sauron gainsaid all that the Avalai had taught. And he bade them think that the world was not a closed circle; and that therein there were many lands yet for their winning, wherein was wealth uncounted; and even yet, when they came to the end thereof, there was the Dark without, out of which came all things. 'And Dark is the Realm of the Lord of All, Meleko the Great, who made this world out of the primeval darkness. And only Darkness is truly holy,' said he.

$32 And Tarkalion the King turned to the worship of the Dark and of Meleko the Lord thereof. And the Meneltyula was deserted in those days and none might ascend it under pain of death, not even those of the faithful who yet kept Eru in their hearts. But Sauron let build on a hill in the midst of the city of the Numenoreans, Antirion the Golden, a great temple; and it was in the form of a circle at the ground, and its walls were fifty feet thick, and they rose five hundred feet, and they were crowned with a mighty dome, and it was wrought all of silver, but the silver was black. And this was the mightiest of the works of the Numenoreans, and the most evil, and men were afraid of its shadow. And from the topmost of the dome, where was an opening or great louver, there issued ever and anon smoke, and ever the more often as the evil of Sauron grew. For there men sacrificed to Meleko with spilling of blood and torment and great wickedness; and ofttimes it was those of the faithful that were chosen as victims. But never openly on the charge that they would not worship Meleko; rather was cause sought against them that they hated the King or falsely that they plotted against their kin and devised lies and poisons.

$33 And for all this Death did not depart from the land.

Rather it came sooner and more often and in dreadful guise. For Whereas aforetime men had grown slowly old, and laid them down as to sleep in the end when they were weary at last of this world, now madness and sickness assailed them, and yet they were afraid to die and go out into the dark, the realm of the lord they had taken. And men made weapons in those days and slew one another for little cause.

$34 Nonetheless it seemed that they prospered. For their wealth increased mightily with the help of Sauron, and they built ever greater ships. And they sailed to the Middle-earth to get them new wealth; but they came no longer as the bringers of gifts, but as men of war. And they hunted the men of Middle-earth and enslaved them and took their goods; but they built fortresses and great tombs upon the western shores in those days. And men feared them, and the memory of the kindly kings of the Elder Days faded in the world and was overlaid with many a dread legend.

$35 Thus waxed Tarkalion the King to the mightiest tyrant that had yet been seen in the world since the rule of Meleko; and yet nonetheless he felt the shadow of death approach as his days lengthened. And he was filled with anger and with fear.

And now came the hour that Sauron had planned. For he spoke now to the King saying evil of Eru, that he was but a phantom, a lie devised by the Avalai to justify their own idleness and greed; and that the Avalai withheld the gift of everlasting life out of avarice and fear lest the kings of men should wrest the rule .

of the world and the Blessed Realm from them. 'And though doubtless the gift of everlasting life is not for all, and only for such as are worthy, being men of might and pride and great lineage, still,' said Sauron, 'it is against all justice that this gift, which is his least due, should be withheld from Tarkalion the King, mightiest of the sons of Earth. To whom only Manawe can compare, if even he.' And Tarkalion being besotted and also under the shadow of Death, for his span was drawing to an end, harkened to him, and devised war against the Avalai. Long was he in pondering this design, and it could not be hidden from all.

$36 And in those days Amardil, who was of the royal house as has been told, and faithful, and yet so noble and so well-beloved of all save the most besotted of the people, that even in the days of Sauron the King dared lay no hand on him as yet, he learned of the secret counsels of the King, and his heart was filled with sorrow and great dread. For he knew that Men could not vanquish the Avalai in war, and that great ruin must come upon the world, if this war were not stayed. Therefore he called his son Elendil Earendil and he said to him: 'Behold, the days are dark and desperate; therefore I am minded to try that rede which our forefather Earendil took: to sail into the West (be there ban or no ban) and speak to the Avalai, yea even to Manawe himself if may be, and beseech his aid ere all is lost.'

'Would you then bewray the King?' said Elendil.

'For that very thing do I purpose to go,' said Amardil.

'And what then, think you, is like to befall those of your house whom you leave behind, when your deed becometh known?'

$37 'It must not become known,' said Amardil. 'I will prepare it in secret and I will set sail at first into the East, whither many ships daily set out, and then round about. But you and your folk, I counsel that you should prepare yourself ships and put on board all such things as your heart cannot bear to part with, and lie ready. But you should hold your ships in the eastern havens; and give out among men that you purpose, maybe, when all is ready to follow me into the East. And I think not that your going will be letted; for the house of Amardil is no longer so dear to our kinsman on the throne of Earendil that he will grieve over much if we seek to depart. But do not take many men with you, or he may become troubled because of the war that he now plots, for which he will need all the force that he hath. Do not take many, and only such as you may be sure that they are faithful. Even so open not your design to any.'

$38 'And what design is this that you make for me?'

'Until I return I cannot say. But to be sure it is like to be flight far from fair Andore that is now so defiled, and from our people; east or west the Avalai alone shall say. But it is likely enough that you shall see me never again, and that I shall show you no sign such as Earendil our sire showed of old. But hold you ever in readiness, for the end of the world that we have known is at hand.'

$39 And it is said that Amardil set sail at night and went east and then about, and he took three servants with him, dear to his heart, and never again were they heard of by word or sign in this world; nor is there any tale or guess of their fate. But this much may be seen, that men could not be a second time saved by any such embassy; and for the treason of Numenor there was no easy assoiling. But Elendil abode in the east of the land and held him secret and meddled not in the deeds of those days; and looked ever for the sign that came not. At whiles he would journey to the western shores of the land and gaze out at the sea, and sorrow and yearning was upon him, for he had loved his father - but further he was not suffered to go; for Tarkalion was now gathering his fleets in the havens of the west.

$40 Now aforetime in the isle of Numenor the weather was ever fair, or leastways apt to the liking and needs of men, rain in due seasons and in measure, and sunshine, now warm now cooler, and winds from over the sea; and when the wind was in the west it seemed to many that it was filled with a fragrance, fleeting but sweet, heart-stirring, as of flowers that bloom for ever in undying meads and have no names on mortal shores. But now that too was changed. For the sky itself was darkened and there were storms of rain and hail in those days, and ever and anon the great ships of the Numenoreans would founder and return not to haven. And out of the West there would come at whiles a great cloud, shaped as it were an eagle with pinions spread to the North and to the South; and slowly it would creep up blotting out the sunset - for at that hour mostly was it seen; and then uttermost night would fall on Numenor. And soon under the pinions of the eagles was lightning borne, and thunder rolled in the heaven, such a sound as men of that land had not before heard.

$41 Then men were afraid. 'Behold the Eagles of the Lords of the West coming over Numenor!' they cried, and they fell upon their faces. And some would repent, but others hardened their hearts and shook their fists at heaven, and said: 'The Lords of the West have made the war. They strike the first blow, the next shall be ours.' And these words were spoken by the King and devised by Sauron.

$42 But the lightnings increased and slew men upon the hills and in the meads, and ever the darts of greatest fury smote at the dome of the Temple. But it stood firm.

$43 And now the fleets of the Numenoreans darkened the sea upon the west of the land, like an archipelago of mighty isles, and their masts were as forests, and their banners red as the dying sun in a great storm and as black as the night that cometh after. But the Eagles of the Lords of the West came up now out of the dayfall, in a long line one behind the other, as if in array of battle, and as they came their wings spread ever wider, until they embraced the heavens.

$44 But Tarkalion hardened his heart, and he went aboard his mighty ship Andaloke and let spread his standard, and he gave the order for the raising of anchors.

$45 And so the fleet of the Numenoreans set forth into the teeth of the storm, and they rowed resolutely into the West; for they had many slaves. And when the storm had abated the sky cleared, and a wind came up out of the East (by the arts of Sauron, some have said), and there was a false peace over all the seas and land while the world waited what should betide. And the fleets of the Numenoreans sailed out of sight of Andunie and broke the ban, and held on through three nights and days; and they passed out of the sight of all watchers.