Hope for the Damned

Hope for the Damned

~ Part three ~

See part one for disclaimers, etc.



As the sun sank below the sea’s horizon and the stars began to glitter softly in the evening sky, Maglor stood upon the shore and dried himself with his ragged cloak. He dressed in drab, worn garments as the Lady Nienna beheld him with a contemplative eye.



“I will provide you with new clothing. Your rags will not last another year.”



The elf straightened and stood fully clothed before her.



“These will do. But, if the Lady insists, then I will comply,” he amended. Her resolute stare lessened, and she moved to rebind her hair.



“No, leave it loose,” Maglor insisted and his eyes lightened at her sigh of consent. “It is lovely.”



Nienna half-smiled and said, “Come, the hour is late and we are expected.”



“Are we now?” The elf’s eyebrow cocked slightly.



With pursed lips but gentle eyes Nienna drew Maglor to her, cradling him against her breast. Silence reigned as the couple levitated, the chilling gusts spiriting them away through the sky. After a time their path leveled and Maglor was able to gaze about him with incredulous wonder.



A black sky adorned with stars that gleamed with radiance lay before him, aboim, im, and beneath him. He breathed shallow, frosty air in a mist above Nienna’s dark tresses, which fluttered about freely in the soft breeze. While kept afloat by the Lady, he reveled in the clarity of thought he possessed. Though his body seemed to blur through time, his mind was alight with new prospects and hope, though he believed this to have forsaken him.



He knew nothing of time; his mind was free of the weight of the ages. The silence soothed him, and soon he felt himself drifting away, consciousness bearing no more consistency than the light breeze that rippled his ragged cloak. The last sensation he felt was the hand of the Lady as she caressed his cheek with her cool fingertips, soothing him to sleep.



~ * ~



After a time unknown to him, Maglor awoke, nude, lying in a bed of soft sheets and plush pillows. The room itself was dark, but outside a single ray of light fred red through the shadows of the corridor. The elf stirred and made to rise from the silken coverings when a chill overtook him and he lay still. On the table beside him, a candle was lit by invisible hands, and then another until Maglor could see about him in the dim light. He sought a robe to ease his discomfort; instead his eyes fell on a partially closed door. It slowly swung on its hinges and Maglor watched as it opened a passage for him that led into darkness. The door to the hallway shut at that moment, depriving his chamber of the celestial light.



Maglor rose from the fine bed and crept across the floor to the closed door as his bare skin shivered from exposure. He tested the polished knob and found it to be locked and without a key. Deprived of the light, he felt a dark sense of foreboding that had been absent from his numb heart for many long years. Maglor again twisted the knob in vain, but the beam in the hall was securely held from him. The soft swish of a hem upon the floor startled him and he whirled around in haste.



“My Lady,” he murmured, and bowed his head.



“Good even Mag Maglor,” she returned. A slight, uncomfortable pause passed between them and then, “Did you sleep well?”



“Yes, my Lady,” the elf replied. Again silence permeated the chamber.



“It was my hope,” Nienna began, and Maglor lifted his eyes, “that you would bathe, and then dine with me, if the journey has not utterly exhausted you.”



“I would be honored.”



“Very well then. I shall return for you in a short while.” The Lady moved to exit, but Maglor halted her.



“Where is my clothing?”



“Ah, new items will be here when you are ready for them. I trust you do not wash yourself fully clothed?”



“No,” he replied, lips beckoned into a faint smile.



“That is good.” And without another word Nienna stepped into the shadows and was gone.



Maglor was again alone, and though he held many questions, he bided his time. The smooth sound of pouring water met his ears, halting his thoughts. The aromatic vapors of a hot bath enticed his earthly needs yet he lingered, wary of the mystifying ambience of the chamber. Despite the Lady’s words, he remained ill at ease. The intangible light danced still in his mind’s eye, haunting He He reached a hand to the doorknob again, but a cold breath at his back made his muscles tense.



Maglor ceased his exploration and hastened across the marble floor to the haze that came from the darkened room where his bath awaited him. Walking in the mist, he passed through the small corridor and entered an opulent washroom. There he reclined in a black tub and afterwards scented his pale body with a glistening oil that smelled of a deep musk. He tied his dark hair back in a simple braid and upon entering his sleeping chamber he found laid out for him new clothing. His skin reveled in the richness of the material as it fitted loosely on his body. His dark cloak swirled about his boot shod ankles as he turned in self-examination.



“Dressed already?” Nienna stood in the open frame of the locked door, but behind her the hallway was shadowed in darkness.



“Yes,” Maglor sighed, eyes searching beyond her fair face with longing.



Nienna silently questioned his despondency.



“Shall we dine?” He extended his arm to her, eyes averted.



“Of course.” Pulling lightly, she guided him out the door and down the hall, candles flaring to life ceremoniously as they passed.



~End Part three~